


A Firestorm of Consequences

by Kelkat9



Series: Dark!Doctor [3]
Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Dark Doctor (Doctor Who), F/M, Romance, Smut
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-06-19
Updated: 2013-07-23
Packaged: 2017-12-15 11:57:53
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 43,385
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/849300
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kelkat9/pseuds/Kelkat9
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Doctor and Rose are back on Earth fulfilling their duties as Protectors of the Earth as assigned to them by Time Lord Council.   Enemies are emerging from the darkness intent on vengeance.  The Doctor will not see it coming  until it steals what he holds most precious.  Story #3 in Dark!Ten series</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Story #3 in Dark!Ten Series. If you have not read Burn With Me or A Smoldering Storm you may be lost. PLEASE NOTE THIS IS VERY ADULT! NSFW Hugs to callistawolf (beta babe extraordinaire) and littlewhomouse who were there when I first plotted this story and helped me along the way. Also more hugs to Whoinwhoville, aintafraidanoghosts and timelord1 who often have to read my whinging texts as I worked my way through this story.
> 
> * * *

 

   
The Doctor was in a foul mood, as he often was of late. Especially when Rose was not around to sweeten his mood with her bright smile, teasing and generally cheerful demeanor. Not to mention how she would show up to his office unannounced, declaring that she had no knickers on, if he cared to know. He tugged at his hair as he paced his large office at the top of Torchwood tower overlooking the city of London after dealing with yet more Earth bureaucracy and wished she were here right now, in all her knicker-less glory. It was a necessity as Lord Protector of the Earth to participate in the never ending stream of meetings with various representatives, sorting out Earth security, setting up government agencies to deal with any lingering after effects of Lord Omicrex and his Time Lord cohorts’ interference with Earth’s development. Not that the humans were aware of any of that. Most of that time line had been rewritten and any genetic alterations or societal meddling had been put to rights. Of course, there were a few fixed points that could not be altered and those involved the very thing he hated, establishing a more autonomous planetary government, educating them on intergalactic politics, monitoring their development to keep them on track to where they should be and basically stopping other more advanced alien races from swooping in and taking advantage of them during this delicate stage of their development.

The last group of human delegates had just left and he glared at his large shiny black desk as holographic images of events around the planet floated above it. The Doctor turned away and paused, overlooking the city, watching as the sun sank low in the sky shining off the iridescent sky skyscrapers and creating a shimmering rainbow effect as shadows stretched across the mix of old and new in the city below. Memories of another time, a time when he was trapped here by his own people as punishment for all he’d done in the Time War were always at the edge of his mind in this place. He snorted as he thought about that miserable time and how his people lorded over him after he destroyed the Daleks and saved their arses. Of course, he hadn’t saved all of them. A sharp pain sliced through him at that thought. No, many had been lost, including his own family. That darkness, mixed with his own resentment and anger, had led him to a pit of darkness while he was incarcerated on this planet.

Then, he remembered Rose’s appearance and how his life had changed since she tumbled onto this Earth, as if the Universe had presented him with a gift. The TARDIS sat in a corner of his office and he glanced at his magnificent ship and smiled, knowing she had something to do with Rose being here. Life was definitely better now, even if he had to deal with Gallifreyan emissaries, a never ending flow of bureaucracy, potential betrayal from Time Lords on Gallifrey whom he had thwarted with Rose’s help, and the locals wittering on about trade agreements and scientific advisory committees.

Speaking of his uncommon Rose, the Doctor wondered where she’d wandered off to. He hated when she decided to strike off on her own, to mingle amongst the locals. Even though he had a telepathic connection to her, and a bit of her presence was humming in the back of his mind, he liked to have her close. There were creatures in the universe that would love to harm her or steal her away and do unthinkable things to her. He couldn’t deny that he was still possessive of her. Most of their trust issues had been resolved, but he couldn’t completely eliminate that tiny bit of insecurity that wormed its way forward periodically, causing a burning need to confirm her commitment to him. He mentally caressed the bond that now connected them and shoved aside his doubt. Still, he didn’t like her propensity for mingling with other humans and surrounding herself with human things. She was his consort, his partner, and was recognized on Gallifrey as the female head of his house. If things were ever to improve their standing in Gallifreyan society, Rose had to embrace his heritage, the superiority of his people, and let go of her affinity for human-y things.

With that thought now consuming his mind and irritation prompting him forward, the Doctor made his way into his TARDIS and set coordinates for wherever Rose was located. In mere seconds, he was landed and storming out of the TARDIS. When he realized where he was and conversely where she was, his mood deteriorated. His temperament had improved greatly since he had bonded with Rose. The only exception was that now his dark moods were replaced with a primal urge to possess and protect her. This possessive feeling only ever reared up when some mention of her other Doctor popped into conversation or when he could sense her thinking about her family. He had promised her he would not punish her for sharing her memories with him, as she was with him now, but every once and a while he found he couldn’t keep that promise. Now was one of those times.

They were outside of London, in a small village. Rose was attending the dedication of a new school. There were hundreds of people also in attendance. This school would focus on the sciences, to encourage children to explore, imagine and embrace new ideas. It would focus on not only Earth sciences but interstellar subjects as well. It had been Rose’s pet project to build more schools to encourage the next generation not be afraid to follow their dreams and to become explorers. It wasn’t the school, or Rose’s mission to help humans to develop, that bothered him. It was the location, which was near a particular family that he had warned her to keep away from. Parallel worlds were gingerbread houses filled with temptations. Rose needed to be reminded of that. He walked up and stood behind her, radiating tension and anger.

Rose felt the moment he arrived. Truth be told, she had felt his mood shift while he was still in London. She was used to his perpetual irritation, boredom, or out and out aggravation here on Earth. Usually, she was able to distract him and remind him of how this planet was filled with people and events that could be fascinating and a delight. He knew this, but for some reason he couldn’t see it unless she showed him through her eyes. Sometimes it was while they were exploring ancient Mayan ruins and running across alien grave robbers or maybe it was while watching the cicadas emerge and just listening to them roar across a field and feel that life all around them. Other times, it could be while they were visiting an island no human had ever set foot on and stripping off their clothing to swim and make love in some hidden spring while some as yet undiscovered orchids bloomed in the trees around them.

This time, however, he would not be so easily distracted. He was beyond annoyed with her and she knew why. But, she was Rose Tyler. She was stubborn and determined and she had her reasons for being here. He would not intimidate her. While the crowds were busy applauding a speech, the Doctor tugged Rose away, firmly holding her arm and directing her into a dimly lit building, the Planetarium.

“What do you think you’re doing?” he demanded, an edge to his voice as they stood in the large room under the domed ceiling. He aimed his sonic at the door and locked it as he stared at her accusingly.

She yanked her arm away from him, picking up on his anger and adding her own to it. “I’m overseein’ the dedication of this school. What are you doin’ here anyway? It’s not like you care.”

He started to pace back and forth, his hands shoved into his long gray coat. He whipped around, his coat flaring about him emphasizing the Oncoming Storm being unleashed. “Care! Oh, I care all right! I care that you,” he said in a seething voice while he pointed at her, “made sure this school was here in this little village for one reason.”

Rose crossed her arms and shifted, her gaze fixed on some projection equipment in the center of the auditorium.

“You knew that the Pete and Jackie Tyler of this world lived here. You came to see them, didn’t you? After I told you not to; you did it anyway!”

Rose’s head snapped up and she glared at him. “I did not talk to them!”

“Maybe you didn’t, but you’re here, aren’t you?” he shouted. “Here, when I specifically asked you not to, when I told you they weren’t your family!”

Rose stormed up to him and stopped inches from him radiating her own anger and shouted, “I know! You think I bloody well don’t know that after dimension travellin? Give me a bit of credit! I’m not stupid or naïve!”

He snorted. “Could’ve fooled me, with the way you’ve been spending time here and you have, haven’t you? You picked this spot because they were here. How many times have you stalked them, eh? Watching from the shadows, imagining they were your family?”

Rose slapped him, the crack echoing about in the large room. “How dare you!” she said in an angry voice. “You don’t know anything! I know they aren’t my family. I do,” she said in a quivering voice. “But they are just like my Pete and Jackie and they have a son, Tony just like my brother and they are good people. If I want to do for them like I can’t for my family what business is it of yours? I’m not violating any rules, and I won’t either. If I want to make sure that little boy gets every opportunity to learn and grow and be brilliant, then I will. I can’t do anything for my own family but I can help these people.”

He rubbed his face. “Why? Just give me one good reason why?” he demanded.

“Because being here on Earth and seeing all the people with their families makes me miss my family!” she shouted with tears glistening in her eyes. “Not that you would understand that,” she said in a quieter voice as she turned away from him.

He stalked over and turned her around, his hands on her shoulders. “Don’t you ever say that,” he said in a quiet angry voice. “You don’t know all I’ve lost, what I have to live with. My family was lost to the Void, Rose! Do you even conceive how horrible that is, to be trapped in the Howling? I put them in there, and they trusted me to get them out, and now they’re gone and there’s nothing I can do.”

Rose felt a tear trail down her face. “I’m sorry,” she whispered.

He looked into her whiskey colored eyes, glistening with tears which were now being shed for him. He felt her compassion and love, tinged with her own melancholy of missing her family. “So am I,” he said gruffly and pulled her into his arms, holding her tight to him as if the sheer act of holding her would banish his guilt and loss. “But you’re my family now,” he finally said, allowing his feelings to wash through her.

Rose looked up at him, her heart bursting with emotion, and yanked him down into a snog. This was their way. They tease, snip and row and then they shag their way to I’m Sorry.

They made short work of their coats as tongues glided against each other, hands grasped and tugged at each other and Rose rubbed the outside of his leg with her knee. Passion erased their earlier fight but their emotions remained intense. His sonic appeared, the room darkened and the universe appeared above them as the projection equipment clicked on. They broke apart and Rose looked up at the starry sky now covering the domed ceiling and then back at him.

He smirked and yanked her blue lace top off. “Doctor, this is a school and we shouldn’t-” Rose reminded him although feeling a little thrill at the danger of being caught.

“Bollux the school!” he growled and stepped forward running his finger over the black lace that encased the swell of her breast. “I’m the Lord Protector of this world, the door’s locked, I have you half naked under the stars, and in precisely twenty point two seconds, you will be entirely nude and…” He paused and smirked. “busy.”

Rose smiled as her mind filled with some of his filthy thoughts of how this building should be christened Doctor and Rose style. She gave him one of her tongue teasing smiles and sidled up to him.

“That so?” she asked as she shoved his suit coat off and slowly unbuttoned his dress shirt beneath while he aimed his sonic at her jeans which suddenly seemed to fall off. She giggled, unzipped her boots and stepped out of her jeans while he unlaced and removed his own trainers and his trousers were quickly discarded. They stood there, staring at each other for a moment. This part always curled Rose’s toes. It was a different kind of foreplay, one where their minds initiated things. The air was thick as his dark eyes gazed at her. She shivered as she felt him unleash his Time Lord consciousness and temporal energy all around her.

Rose felt heat pooling low in her body as he caressed her timeline and her skin prickled as she felt him delve into her mind and pour himself into and through her with all his unbridled passion. Her heart pounded and she focused on him with hooded eyes, envisioning wrapping him up in timelines, binding him tight and naked to her in a vortex of time and space spinning around them. They were the epicenter as stars were born, burned and died around them. Soon she was tugging his pants down and running her hands up his lightly haired and toned calves, across his muscular thighs until she reached his very hardened length. She focused, inhaled, and drew the timelines into her as her hands caressed him. Her fingers gently trailed up and down and around him as his whole body tensed in anticipation. He’d loved it the first time she’d done this to him. It had happened by accident. Rose just instinctually did things that surprised both of them, sometimes in good ways and sometimes not so good ways. This, however, was definitely a fun and quite naughty surprise. She had the ability to pull timelines into her and then slowly release them, almost breathing them out onto him, but it was more than that. Rose had found a new and sexually mind blowing use for this talent. She enveloped him in her mouth, her tongue swirling and caressing his rigid flesh and then released that bit of time she’d pulled into herself swirling it around his sensitive skin, prickling his time sense causing him to shudder and burn with passion.

His hands gripped her hair as she did this, her head moving up and down rhythmically as his whole body shuddered and he sang out her name in ancient words only the universe truly understood. As her warm wet mouth enveloped him, her full, soft lips and tongue caressed him from base to tip and she hummed and released time to wrap around him like silken and satin ribbons softly and erotically sliding against his skin. The intensity of the orgasm burned its way through him in the most delicious of ways and time slowed as waves of pure pleasure vibrated along his nerves and reached into the temporal core of his mind. He’d never felt anything like this and reveled in it, allowing her power over him, letting go just for her. He was vulnerable in this moment but didn’t care. She was his Uncommon Rose, his safe place to fall in the universe and when he was with her, nothing could harm him.

Rose released him with a pop as he stumbled away, still caught up in the moment, in the waves of pleasure coursing through him. She looked at him and felt strong and powerful. She’d done this to him, made him tremble and struck speechless as he stood there, shaking and breathing hard as his respiratory bypass eventually kicked in. Rose had felt very chuffed the first time she’d caused that respiratory bypass to kick in, too. Especially after all the times he’d left her a puddle of goo after that clever tongue of his had delved, swirled and mapped out every erogenous zone she had. She felt her knickers dampen at the thought of laying nude across his shiny black desk as his gorgeous hair tickled her thighs and that clever tongue had her arching up and screaming for him.

Oh yes, she did like to control things sometimes and although he would never admit it, he liked it when she did too. Just as she smirked, pleased at her accomplishment, her eyes tinged golden from seductively wielding time, he snapped back with a cocky grin. In a blur of motion she was swept away and found herself lying prone on his coat, her knickers and brassier disintegrated with a flick of his sonic while he hovered over her, his hands planted firmly by her shoulders and his eyes burning into hers. He leaned down and his lips barely grazed hers in the most gentle of kisses. Slowly he increased the pressure, tugging at her bottom lip. He leaned in closer and she felt his chest hair tickle her already pebbled nipples as she arched up into him. She was already wet and ready for him and didn’t need this teasing.

The kiss deepened as he groaned and tasted her. Rose wrapped her arms around him and ran her fingers through his hair, her nails grazing his scalp which she knew would spur him on. He sat up abruptly and smirked at her as he made sure to press an impressive Time Lord erection into her warm moist heat. “Doctor,” she moaned and tried to arch up to gain more friction but he moved away.

“Not yet,” he whispered roughly and leaned down to nuzzle her, the barest amount of scruff brushing her cheek as he gently nipped and sucked at her neck. Rose moaned and shifted, wrapping one of her legs around him to encourage him onward. He licked and nipped his way down her arched neck until he was nestled between her breasts. He looked up to see her panting, her eyes heavily lidded as she licked her lips. One of his hands skimmed along her side, down to her hip, over the sonic screw driver tattoo he had designed for her. His finger lightly traced it before he trailed upward to the apex of her thighs and dipped into her folds, tracing through her wetness and teasing her into gasping for him as his thumb drew a lazy circle around her very sensitive bud of nerves.

She started mewling and begging him to stop teasing and just shag her. He chuckled and crawled further up her body, just barely pressing into her. For what seemed like an eternity, he gazed into her eyes and then pressed his forehead against hers plunging into her mind as he fully sheathed himself inside of her. Rose cried out his name as her legs wrapped around him, her heels firmly pressed against his tight arse.

He moved into her and she arched up to meet him as their minds created a telepathic version of what their bodies experienced. He was in control this time. Warm waves of dulcet tones and vibrations cascaded over them, almost as if they were lying on a beach and the ebb and flow of time lapped at their toes. The tempo and beat of this song increased and his voice whispered through her mind, the music of the universe, of time, birth, life and rebirth. Soon, she began to be able to pick out their own song, the song of their lives intertwined, of the beat of their bodies slapping against one another, moans, gasps and their minds harmonizing in ways she could barely understand until a crescendo of love and passion burst through them.

They lay like that, him still nestled inside of her and wrapped around each other, gently caressing, nuzzling and appreciating the image of the night sky above them. Neither of them realized how tentative this was, this happiness they both enjoyed. They had endured and fought for the right to have this life together, this forever, but forever wasn’t a guarantee. Dark things moved amongst the stars. Ancient and not so ancient enemies waited patiently for the opportunity to have their revenge and that opportunity had just presented itself from the most unlikely of places.

* * *

Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters and settings are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. No money is being made from this work. No copyright infringement is intended.  



	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks again to callistawolf for beta. She deserves cookies for putting up with my random comma usage. I hope you enjoy the chapter. I promise we will get back to Dark Ten and Rose in the next chapter. Thank you so much for reading :)
> 
> * * *

 

 

The Time War was brutal. More than just Time Lord and Daleks died and many more planets and aliens burned or suffered as a result. In the end, the final solution enacted by the Time Lords not only eliminated the Dalek threat and destroyed Gallifrey, it decimated dozens of other worlds, wiped out many other sentient and advanced species or crippled their civilizations. It was no secret to such maimed and suffering races who was to blame for their anguish and one name stood out among all others, the Doctor.

The Doctor had a reputation as a renegade, interstellar meddler, arrogant condescending know-it-all who interfered whether he was asked or not. He was the toppler of despots, inciter of revolutions, the Oncoming Storm, Ka Faraq Gatri, warrior, peace keeper and Lord of Time. He was hated, revered, beloved and despised. Those that survived the Time War at a cost to their civilization blamed him. Some had put a price on his head and others hunted him even if it instigated an interstellar incident or incurred the wrath of Gallifrey and the Time Lords. Some were too mad or mired in pain and despair to care. They hated him and wanted nothing more than to make him suffer.

It was purely by accident the method of his enemy's revenge presented itself. In a corner of the universe torn asunder by the Time War, where few dared to venture, where time and space was unstable, an anomaly appeared. It was tiny and almost unnoticeable unless you were looking for it or had a ship caught in the energy vortex it created and happened to be receiving a frequency broadcasting a distress signal. Most space faring sentient species wouldn't recognize it much less understand what it was. The Recondite, however, were clever. They had retreated to the dark places such as the Koloz Nebula where this anomaly was located. Most races assumed the Recondite were destroyed, yet another victim of the Time War. Even the Time Lords had dismissed them as yet another casualty.

What remained of them were few, twisted by hate and their desire for vengeance. When they found this seeming impossible signal, they used their resources to learn more about it. What they found was both horrifying and an opportunity for them. They worked tirelessly to retrieve a very special ship trapped in this anomaly which in reality was no anomaly at all. It was a hole in the fabric of the Universe that was fluctuating open and closed. Beyond this opening, lay something even more frightening than the remains of the Time War. Before them was an entrance to hell, the Howling otherwise known as the Void.

Time Lords were clever, they harnessed the power of quantum singularities, developed the Time Vortex, made themselves better through genetic manipulation, mastered time travel and time manipulation and most importantly, developed dimensional transcendentalism. Perhaps, though, they were too clever for their own good. After all, the Time War was a result, in part, of their own arrogance. It never occurred to them that any of what they considered the lessor species could ever threaten them. Their solution was brutal and dispatched without concern for any other species, at least, in the eyes of those effected. Of course, the Time Lords made concessions and plans to preserve a portion of their own people even if the solution was considered horrific and potentially lethal for those they intended to save. It was this fateful decision and the repercussions that now was about to birth a new threat to them and satisfy the Recondite's lust for vengeance.

The ship that was pulled out of the Void was like no other in the universe. Its appearance was spherical and metallic in nature but it was nothing like that in reality. The Recondite had heard legends of this type of ship but nothing prepared them for this find. The exterior of the ship pulsed with energy although it was also generating a disturbing telepathic signature. Any telepaths who neared it fell to the ground in convulsions, calling out words like _Hell, Helpless, Lost, Pain, Anger, Vengeance_ and _Doctor._

When they heard _Doctor_ mentioned, they became determined to open this ship feeling that whoever or whatever lay within must have been a victim of the Time Lords and specifically the Doctor and may be useful. They were confident that those that were within this device, those imprisoned and abandoned could be valuable allies and perhaps even persuaded to assist the Recondite in their quest for justice. The Recondite had visions of working with whatever or whoever lay within this ship to bring about the Doctor's downfall along with the rest of the Time Lords. They were more correct than they knew except for one very important part. They never considered that those imprisoned in the Void, in this ship, might be more advanced than they were. The truth was that those contained in this ship were far more powerful, deadly and tinged with a madness not seen since the height of the Time War.

It took the Recondite several standard Earth months to deduce how to open the Void ship. When they finally did, stale air with a scent of decay whooshed out. A scream pierced the air and then robed figures emerged. They killed the first Recondite scientists they saw with weapons the Recondite had never seen. Once they had dominated those that freed them, they easily subdued the rest of the crew and began their interrogations in a way only a Time Lord could. They pierced their minds and rifled through memories like paging through a book. They were brutal and uncaring of any harm caused or any death that resulted from their telepathic rampage. The screams of the crew echoed about the ship as the interrogations continued for hours. By the time these Time Lords were done, very few of the Recondite survived and those that did were cowering or mentally damaged beyond repair.

These were not the Time Lords of new Gallifrey, the Gallifrey that emerged after the Time War, the Gallifrey that survived Omicrex and the Master. These were Time Lords from the height of the Time War, twisted and riddled with madness after a millennia lingering in the Void. Upon their emergence from the Void, what they learned of their people, of what happened during the war, did nothing to sway their anger and bitterness. It deepened it to a hatred so dark and consuming, it became their sole purpose.

"They abandoned us," a black haired Time Lady with streaks of silver through her hair spit out. Her brown eyes were hard and condemning and her thin sickly coloured skin stretched tight across her angular face and her faded blue robes hung off her slight frame.

A thin, pale, Time Lord with thinning hair brown hair and deep set dark eyes almost snarled his agreement. "They lived on, thrived while we suffered. They didn't even mourn those who they left to wither in darkness. They are worse than Daleks!"

A rumble of voices agreed and another Time Lord, weakly leaning against a wall gasped out, "At least the Daleks end you instead of leaving you to wither away slowly for centuries trapped in an endless dark abyss as your life slowly ebbs away." A hunched over wild looking Time Lady cackled madly nearby seemingly lost in her own world.

Another tall, thin, sickly looking Time Lord with white hair stood eerily still and silent, staring out a viewport on the Recondite space craft at the carnage remaining in this nebulae. Finally, he spoke. "They must suffer as we have suffered." He turned to the others around him. "Starting with the one who put us there."

The Time Lady clenched her fists, her nails biting into her flesh until she bled. "The Doctor will suffer more than any other. He abandoned his family, his house, his wife and children. I always knew he was a coward, betrayer of his own kind always turning his back on me and…" she could barely get the words out. This was far too personal for her, memories of a marriage contract, of her inability to subdue the wild nature of this person she was forced to align herself with, combine her genetics with; and enduring his general disinterest in family and politics. His fleeing of Gallifrey, absconding with one of their grandchildren had caused her embarrassment, diminishing her status in Time Lord society. Eventually, she had withstood the ridicule of her people and made his house hers. She tolerated his periodic appearances, always making clear that any retribution against this house was his fault and he owed her for any elevation in status for his family and house. He had made a few efforts to make things work but their differences were far to vast to overcome what she viewed as his pathetic attempts to atone for all that she endured while he ran off across time and space. Now, she seethed even more, bitter at his betrayal of not only their union but of the house she worked so hard to build and elevate in Time Lord society, at his final act of abandoning his family to a hellish existence.

"Lady Ambitosanal, you will have vengeance." The silver haired Time Lord known as Insidousaunum said in a polished voice. "My cousin was always a disappointment, failure and embarrassment to our house. His demise shall be simple and your honour will be restored." He turned to her, a cold smile on his lips and an icy madness in his grey eyes. "We will deprive him of what he covets."

"Earth, the humans. He's always had an unfathomable fascination for that primitive culture," she said with a hard look. "It was an aspersion on me and tarnished all of us in his house and destroyed our good name to be associated with such a…capricious, meddling renegade who is more concerned with other primitive races than the prosperity and standing of his own family."

Several other bedraggled and sickly looking Time Lords and Ladies gathered around. They were all cousins, brothers, sisters and offspring of this once great house.

Lord Insidousaunum inclined his head. "Yes, Lady, he is all of those things as well as cunning and ruthless in order to achieve his own goals. He abandoned us, left us to wither and suffer as the Void leached through to us. He chose Earth over his own family and now cavorts openly with a human female."

Lady Ambitosanal looked sharply at him. "Disgusting! How dare he!" she shouted, her fists clenched again and her worn blue robes swishing as she paced. "Insult, disgrace!" she continued, her anger renewed. "I will not be further dishonoured by his rebellious and tawdry behaviour," she spat out. She gripped her head as if in pain, paused and took slow measured breaths. She looked over at Lord Insidousaunum. "My life is ending soon. I feel myself slipping further away and it's all because of _him_. If I am to end then so is everything he cares for."

A murmuring of agreement filled the room with voices ringing out "They should all pay!"

All those in the Void ship had been effected by being imprisoned in the Void. The ship had been damaged, buffeted about by forces in the Void that the Time Lords may have not taken into consideration. The Void was a place even the Eternals didn't venture and little was known about it other than it was cold, horrible nothingness, the place between universes. The Time Lords had dismissed it as unimportant, merely a crossing point with no life and nothing of interest. Until the Time War, it had been nothing but a dumping ground, wasted space and not a place they cared to venture.

In the end, that unknown, uninteresting space became the salvation of their species, or so they thought. For these Time Lords and Ladies, it was anything but salvation. Their ship was the last to be sent into the Void. The final sanction in the Time War was implemented shortly after their ship was slipped through a rift into the Void overseen by the Doctor himself. Unbeknownst to those left behind to enact the horrific final sanction, the opening used to send ships into the Void had not been entirely closed when the Time Lord weapon, the Moment, was activated to destroy Gallifrey, Daleks and convulse time itself. The reverberations of such a trauma to time and space leached through into the Void and ensnared the void ship in temporal and massive energy waves severe enough to damage it's cleverly designed exterior. The beacon to notify others of its location was destroyed as were many other of its functions. Tiny fissures formed in its temporal shell, its shielding and effected the technology within necessary to keep its occupants safe and protected from the Void. Time did not exist in the void but they were Time Lords and were aware of its passing in their own personal time lines. As the decades and centuries passed, they deteriorated. The Void was brutal in its assault on their vessel and eventually on them, physically and otherwise. The most powerful creatures in the universe were being slowly destroyed and driven mad. If a healthy, clear minded Time Lord was dangerous, then these Time Lords suffering from Void madness were even more lethal.

Now, these long suffering and malignant Time Lords were free from the Void. They were free to learn of how their people had tossed them aside, moved on without another thought and seemingly acted as if their loss was nothing more than an acceptable casualty of war, a simple and cold statistic of a conflict now resolved.

Lady Ambitosanal's outrage and emotional response to how the Time Lords had abandoned them and how the Doctor had seemingly continued his life as if he suffered no loss, would have been considered unacceptable for a Time Lady who was trained to repress her emotions. This was evidence of how far she'd fallen from Time Lord principals. Learning that the one responsible for putting them into the Void as well as being one of the Time Lords charged with ending the war continued to not just live but thrive, generated an all-consuming rage within her and those lost Time Lords. They wanted vengeance against the Doctor and the Time Lords that chose to desert them and dismissed their pain.

A cruel smile lit Lord Insidousaunum's pale face. "Do not distress yourself my Lady, I assure you, the Doctor will suffer and you will witness it. He will be an example to all of Gallifrey of how they will all suffer for their lack of action to retrieve those lost in the Void. We will destroy the Earth and Gallifrey slowly. They will suffer as we suffered. They will learn, loss, pain and darkness. The universe will bear witness to our triumph and vindication and bow at our feet as the new masters of time."

There were mumblings and shouts in agreement as the mad, injured, sick and dying Time Lords garnered enthusiasm for the blood they wanted to spill and the terror they would spread across the universe and they would be led by the mad Lord Insidousaunum. They would have their vengeance and the universe would tremble.

* * *

Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters and settings are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. No money is being made from this work. No copyright infringement is intended.  
  
This story archived at <http://www.whofic.com/viewstory.php?sid=50818>


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Huge huge hugs for my lovely beta callistawolf.

As the mad Time Lords planned the demise of the Doctor and the terror they would inflict on Gallifrey, the Doctor and Rose were preparing to receive and entertain one of the many emissaries from Gallifrey. Things were better between them since the school dedication, thanks to one of their typical angry conciliatory shags in the planetarium which was then followed by a lecture on Time Lord propriety, the rules of which they both took great delight in breaking once on their TARDIS.

The days following that event were quiet and the Doctor made more effort to include Rose in his daily routine and in mentoring her on Gallifreyan customs. At least, from his perspective, he was mentoring her. Rose may have had another point of view on this subject, which was why she was presently absent from the Doctor's side.

The Doctor was perplexed about Rose's sudden interest in this alternate Tyler family. Especially, after she seemed to embrace life with him in this universe. Everything had been fine during their recent travels. It was only when they had arrived on Earth to fulfill the obligations forced on them by the Time Lord Council that things went pear shaped.

It started a few weeks after they had arrived. Rose would retreat, taking walks on the London streets, leaving the Doctor on his own to see to his Lord Protector duties. The Doctor found this annoying and worrisome. He made sure to track her movements and knew exactly where she was for her own safety as well as to satisfy his own insecurities about her. She hadn't returned to the small village where this universe's Pete and Jackie Tyler resided after the planetarium incident. Still, he needed her with him, assisting him with the onerous and numerous diplomatic duties, especially with the Gallifreyan delegation on their way. It was critical that everything be perfect, that the Doctor could show human progress at an acceptable pace and that the humans were no threat to his people. He also wanted to show that Rose was an acceptable consort and a fitting head of his house. He wanted her status confirmed and to assure her safety from any over zealous and curious Time Lords that might have an inkling to investigate, perhaps even abduct Rose for their own unpleasant experiments.

Most of the Time Lord council had a good healthy fear of her. She had, after all, regenerated three Time Lords as well as defeated the Rani and she had played an important role in thwarting the Master and saving Gallifrey. Rose was powerful, different, and a new species even if that power was wrapped up in the guise of a compassionate human woman. There were still those who wanted to use her or find a way to control her power. This he would never allow. She was his in many different ways that those stuffy Time Lords could never understand. They were connected through their bond in a most intimate fashion. They shared feelings, thoughts and that unfathomable power lying within her. He still didn't understand it, but he had a healthy respect for the danger and responsibility of access to such omnipotent-like ability.

It was important for Rose to recognize that this power was part of her and what that signified to the rest of the universe as well as how others, including Gallifrey, viewed her. Thus far, she seemed to discount it. She was oh so human about it, and quite humble as well. It frustrated him that she chose to dismiss its importance and act as if it didn't matter. He suspected part of that was fear. The Doctor had been making efforts to push her to accept her new status in his universe, as a guardian, protector and more importantly his partner and consort. She was, in Earth terms, his wife, although he hated that word and description. In his eyes, it was insufficient to describe what she was to him. She was bonded to him, as he was to her, and on Gallifrey they stood together, indicating she was the female counterpart of his political house. Not, of course, that it held much meaning, since his family and the members of his house were lost to the Void. Still, the image was there and it was politically important. He really couldn't care a flying TARDIS about Gallifreyan politics but since it affected their freedom, he had to take it into account. Rose had a part to play whether she or he wanted it or not.

He despised having to conform, but he couldn't deny the necessity to ensure their way of life and their freedom to travel. Thus, he had been instructing Rose on Gallifreyan customs and etiquette. It was grueling since he hated the stodgy rules and protocols and Rose seemed to equally hate the complicated rituals and etiquette. They had just rowed over her lesson on High Gallifreyan, proper greetings, table manners and showing the appropriate amount of respect to the emissaries who would be arriving in a few hours. He resented all of it and especially her stubbornness in refusing to make enough effort to perform said rituals. He felt that the least she could do was make an effort. Thus, in a cranky and irritable mood, he stormed out of his office to retrieve his Rose from whatever escapade and domestic adventure she was off enjoying.

Rose wandered through the streets of London, smiling at the people who acknowledged her. In Pete's World, it had taken her awhile to get used to being the mysterious Vitex heiress who had shown up from nowhere. Pete Tyler had always been in the media, it was part of his business and his first Jackie had enjoyed being the center of attention, had liked being one of the elite and admired. As if Jackie's sudden "reappearance" after the Cybermen invasion hadn't been a big enough story, it was certainly the story of the year for Pete to suddenly to have a fully grown daughter show up. The media had been ravenous for more information and Rose, like Jackie, had been pressed to give interviews. Rose had channeled her inner Doctor, put on a bright smile and had lied with an amazing amount of ease. Of course, the story had grown old after a while and she had done her best to show everyone she was boring so they'd lose interest.

Being Pete's daughter, however, meant that the media and the public would never lose total interest in her. Thus, she'd had to get used to people whispering about her or photographers wanting her picture and journalists trying to drum up some scandal around her to make a name for themselves. She eventually grew accustomed to the attention, used to strangers recognizing her, so it was only a small adjustment here on this new Earth when people smiled and inclined their heads in respect. It was entirely different for her to get used to the title they bestowed upon her, Lady Protector. She hadn't realised they meant her the first time she'd heard it. The Doctor had sighed and sent her a telepathic "that would be you." She'd blushed, a bit embarrassed, which had annoyed him. He just accepted such things as normal.

After a while, she relaxed into her role and didn't feel embarrassed about the title anymore, but was determined to not let it affect her or change who she was. It wasn't her only title though. There were various Time Lords and Ladies on Earth performing various other functions as well. Some referred to her as My Lady, others called her The Chancellor's Consort. Then there were the rude ones like Miss Tyler, saying it as if she was something dirty, or Hybrid or the Doctor's Pet. She ignored them, for the most part. There was one name, however, that made her pause, Bond-Lady. One of the resident Arcadian soothsayers had called her this. She never could get the seer to elaborate, but something about that title and the way she said it, made Rose feel a twinge of something.

Rose was wandering now without a destination in mind. She just wanted to get away from anything Time Lord with all their pomp and arrogance. She swore if the Doctor made her learn another elaborate greeting that took twenty minutes to complete; or wanted her to practice that awful tea ceremony that involved a mathematical equation based on time of day, the type of tea and the equipment used to brew the tea along with delicately ringing some Gallifreyan chime at various points in the brewing and serving process, she would scream. To give him credit, he did telepathically instruct her on the math but Rose had become confused on most of it, as she was expected to hold a conversation while following the complicated ritual. That didn't even take into account the heavy ornate headdress she was required to wear, which she could never keep from shifting on her head, distracting her from the task at hand. The Doctor was not happy with her lack of progress and inability quickly learn what he considered simple etiquette.

Rose remembered the lecture he'd given her about focusing and how it was only a few hours of her life and that he was miserable too. Lately, it seemed that he was always lecturing her on how important it was to learn these Gallifreyan rituals if they ever wanted to be released from their obligations, from their banishment from Gallifrey. She'd blown up at him, and after much shouting, she'd walked out, slamming the proverbial door shut in her mind and basically telling him to piss off. Now, she was losing herself in London, in more familiar surroundings around people she could better relate to. The problem was, this wasn't really her world and these weren't really her people. Although she might better relate to them, she wasn't like them. She wasn't like anyone else in this universe. He had his Time Lords but who did she have really?

She knew she had him, but right now that wasn't a comfort, not when he was making all these demands and trying to change her. That was her biggest problem. He was trying to make her into something she wasn't. Rose Tyler was a chameleon for sure, companion to the Doctor, daughter, sister, Torchwood agent, Defender of the Earth and multiverse, but when it came to anything else… She felt like she was lacking something or would lose or herself in trying to fit into the role he was demanding she play. Somehow, she had lost her way and being on Earth had stirred feelings of loss she'd thought she had dealt with. He had been furious at her for being anywhere near this world's Tyler family but she hadn't been able to help herself. She'd never interact with them directly, but she could assure their well being. It helped soothe the part of her that still wondered about her mum and brother. She knew she'd never see them again and she knew these Tylers weren't her family.

He, of course, assumed she was acting like a stupid ape and wanted to lecture her. Well, he wanted to lecture and shag the feelings out of her. Rose smiled at that. They did have some rather passionate rows, but they were always followed by amazing sex. She was not complaining in that regard. The whole telepathic bond thing had worked out in ways she hadn't imagined. She was still getting used to it, but wasn't unhappy they had taken that step and was truly happy about it. It helped her settle in with him, to know that he loved her enough make that commitment, even if he was a complete git sometimes. It was a fact that she loved him and he loved her and she would never doubt that. The only thing she doubted was how she fit into his life. This was a Doctor who still had his people, other Time Lord friends and a connection to his home world which still existed. He could go home, banishment notwithstanding. Rose could never go home, this Earth was as close as she had and even here she was known as the consort of the Lord Protector, an extension of Gallifrey, a planet and culture where she certainly didn't fit in. That is where her insecurity and worry was deeply seated. Was she holding him back or causing him more problems and he was too loyal to her to admit it?

Before Rose could ponder this further, she felt someone watching her. She quickly scanned around her and found herself in a less affluent area, near a park. Standing in an abandoned playground staring at her, was the Arcadian seer. The girl turned and walked toward a merry-go-round. Rose followed her, feeling drawn as if something important was about to happen.

As she approached the girl, dressed in a long coat and printed dress with her long brown hair loose about her face, the girl leaned against a railing as the merry-go-around spun slowly. Rose felt chilled in the empty park, watching the girl. The sky became gray and overcast and she shivered. Rain hadn't been in the forecast and as the weather was controlled on this world, it was odd; a little too odd.

"Hello," Rose finally said to the girl whose face was upturned toward the sky.

The soothsayer turned to her, her brown eyes reflecting some heavy and ancient burden. "From the eternal obsidian abyss, the forgotten, those that the guardians of time abandoned shall come."

Rose stilled and the world seemed to pause with her. The only movement was the girl on the slowly turning merry-go-round and the world grayed around them until it seemed like she was standing in an old black and white photo.

"What do mean? Who's comin'?" Rose asked slowly, as a nauseous feeling began forming in the pit of her stomach. She unconsciously zipped up her black leather coat.

"They will dispatch devastation and death across the universe with no remorse, driven by madness and a hunger for vengeance. It will start with the one they blame for their torment and grim fate. Darkness will fall on all as they extract their revenge."

Rose reached out and paused the merry-go-round. "Can it be stopped, this darkness? I mean, can we reason with them? Can't you tell me who they are?"

"It is too late. They are already here. The path is set. You will fall into the abyss. You must howl, wolf, and call to all who will hear. Through fear, pain and the bleakness that you will endure, you must not lose that which you hold dear. It will try to leach all hope and love, to twist you like it twisted them. All may not be lost if you embrace the gift bestowed upon you. Time loves you, even amidst the storm that wraps around you possessively and even when the everlasting blackness tries to consume you."

Rose trembled as she felt a memory trigger, something so terrible she couldn't accept it, and she pushed it from her mind. Something was hovering nearby, plotting, planning and reveling in the vengeance it planned to let loose. She could almost feel the hot glare of this nearby evil. "But there must be something I can do," she pleaded as she felt fear, fear for her Doctor, the planet and perhaps the universe.

"You cannot alter what they are, their presence or that which will happen here. But…your fate, is in flux. There is a fork in the path. You must choose. Accept and embrace or turn away. Love completely or choose loneliness. Howl or live in darkness. The choice is yours."

"But…" Rose uttered before a hand gripped her shoulder, shaking her out of whatever had enveloped her. Suddenly, colour returned, the birds were singing, voices of giggling children could be heard in the distance along with traffic and the scent of chips permeated the air. The soothsayer was gone. She turned to find the Doctor scowling at her.

Rose threw her arms around him and clung to him, shaking. He automatically held her tightly to him and all his bad mood fled instantly.

"Rose, what's wrong? What happened?" he said, concerned. Then he tensed as he scanned the area looking for anything or anyone that could have frightened her.

"Doctor, somethin's comin," Rose said, and she looked up at him, filled with worry, the prophecy of the Arcadian seer fresh in her mind.

The Doctor was taken aback by the emotions rolling off of Rose. Annoyed Rose, angry Rose or teasing Rose he could deal with, but this fear and concern for him shook him off balance.

"Show me!" he commanded and Rose complied.

He experienced her memories of the seer and felt her underlying uneasiness. He breathed deeply and stared into her eyes. "Rose, I won't let whatever possible future that seer saw happen. I won't lose you," he said firmly and he yanked her against him, squeezing her so hard she almost couldn't breath. "Never!" he whispered harshly. "I'll never let anything or anyone hurt you."

Rose could feel the desperation in him and his own unease at the seer's dark predictions. When his grip loosened, she pulled back and rain began falling on them. She looked up at the rumbling gray sky and then back at him staring intently at her. "I don't remember rain in the weather forecast."

"There wasn't. Must be some glitch," he said in a soft dangerous tone, still staring at her. Then, like a switch being flipped, his mood switched to annoyance. "Come on, we have to get you ready for the emissaries. I can't have you mucking this up because you decided to go wander off and get drawn into Arcadian mind games."

Rose tugged him to a stop. "She wasn't playin' games. You know she was serious. We have to figure out what's comin'."

His temper flared. "No, we have to get ready for the ambassadorial visit, a real thing that is happening, not some imagined threat."

The sky opened up and it poured rain on them as Rose became more emotional and angry with him. She ripped her hand from his and stalked off with her arms wrapped around herself. She didn't look to see if he followed as the rain plastered her hair to her face and her jeans soaked through. Eventually, he stormed up to her, grabbed her arm and dragged her to a waiting vehicle. Neither of them spoke on the trip back to the Lord Protector's offices at the top of Torchwood Tower.

Rose practically jumped out when they arrived and stood on the transport pad to transmat up to their suite and was followed shortly by the Doctor.

"Don't think this is over," he snipped as he brushed by her, ripping off sodden clothing. "You knew how important this meeting was today and still you ran off."

Rose walked into the bathroom and stripped her clothes off. She stepped into the doorway, dressed only in her knickers. "I didn't ask to be forced into bein' part of some pretentious, boring ceremony. You're the one tryin' to make me into some…"

Before she could finish, he stormed over to her, nude, his wet hair slicked back and his eyes flashing the Oncoming Storm. "Consort, partner, and my female counterpart in the eyes of Gallifrey. Like it or not, when you bonded with me, you accepted all of me including my culture. I expect you to support me, Rose, the way I have supported you through all these human-y tantrums and the emotional whinging I've put up with," he snarled.

"Put up with!" Rose shouted, now really enraged at him. "Ha! As if you ever would! All you do is complain and demand that I conform to what you want! 'Don't wander around London, Rose!', 'They're humans Rose, and they're not like you!' 'That phrase is so human Rose!', 'You're not a shop girl anymore Rose! You're a lady now Rose, act it!' And it never stops! What is it? Do you regret bondin' with me now that we saved your planet and you've got more freedom? Do you think you can just snap your fingers and make me into some perfect Gallifreyan lady? 'Cause I'm not, ya know! I'm not Gallifreyan! I don't even know what the hell I am, but it's obviously not what you want!" Rose turned and slammed the door shut.

He exploded, not paying attention to a word of what she'd said, only knowing that she'd tried to lock him out and not just with a closed door but telepathically too, and that he would not allow. He turned, grabbed his sonic and forced the door open and stormed into the shower where she stood under the pounding water, crying.

He swore in several languages and stepped into the hot spray and roughly pulled her into his arms. She shoved him away and turned her back on him, facing the slated tiled wall.

He hesitated for a moment and then spun her around and shoved her against the cool slick tile. "I'm not apologizing for demanding that my…" He paused and swallowed hard. "My Rose, stand by my side, support me in all ways. I need you to do this, not for just me, but for us. Our home is on the TARDIS but Gallifrey… I don't want us to be banished forever. You may not be Gallifreyan or human but you are my Rose and that's enough for me. I need you," he said passionately and then his lips crashed against hers.

Rose wanted to push him away, she wanted to hate him for trying to force her into some mold of Gallifreyan propriety and for ignoring the warning of the seer, but he was the Doctor and he was snogging her while wet and naked and aroused. He was also comforting her telepathically, even if he couldn't say it. There was something deep inside of her that was vibrating with tension though. It was haunting her with a warning that danger was near. She was afraid of losing him, of what could happen, but most of all, that he was growing apart from her and that she would never be what he needed.

She tried to tuck these feelings deep inside of her. For now, she would live in the moment, revel in his touch and taste and the feeling of his teeth nipping at that spot on her neck as his hands glided down her sides, skimming her abdomen whilst his fingers danced through her curls to slid inside of her.

A part of her couldn't let him take full advantage or control and she nipped at him, biting down hard on his shoulder and digging her nails into his back as she wrapped one of her legs around his hip. He moaned as she aggressively trailed her fingers up his length, squeezing him and grazing his flesh with her nails. He slammed her back against the tiled wall, pressing his forehead against hers, his eyes boring into hers and his erection nudging into her folds.

"Rose," he growled.

"Say please," she demanded, staring at him imperiously.

The Doctor smirked and grabbed her hip hard enough to leave a mark, yanking her leg up around his hip as he angled their bodies together whilst he teased her by rubbing his rigid flesh against her intimately, hitting her in just the right spot to make her gasp. He leaned in further, pressing himself against her clit, eliciting a whimper from her. He nipped at her bottom lip, sucking on it and biting down just a little harder than necessary before releasing her, a dark penetrating look in his eyes.

"No, not this time."

Rivulets of water cascaded from his hair and Rose watched a drop of water as it slowly slid down his neck, trailing down his chest to where their bodies met. Even when he was acting like a controlling dark overlord, she couldn't help but feel a familiar heat spring forth low in her body. Oh, but she wanted to be able to shove him away, but when he looked at her like that…she just melted. Still, that didn't mean she had to be totally compliant. She licked her lips and arched a brow at him. "You've been a git. Why should I let you in or do anything to satisfy you?"

"Because you are mine," he said and he thrust his hips forward against where he was poised at her entrance, teasingly thrusting in and out of her as he enunciated each word, making his point.

He felt her mental barriers give way as he thrust into her. He felt her passion wash over him, followed by a heated and stubborn anger. He loved that about her, her temper and defiance and how it all tied back into her passionate nature. He was angry too though, annoyed at her refusal to help him fulfill their obligations to Gallifrey and it was their obligations, not just his. It was time for her to accept her duties as his bond mate and he was going to see to it that she did so even if he had to shag it into her.

Rose opened her eyes and stared into his as he plunged into her and slammed her back into the cool, wet tile as the nearby pulsing jets splashed them with warm water. His eyes were dark and it was clear that he was determined to bend her to his will. Her inner wolf unfurled itself at the thought that he would dare attempt to subdue and control her. With hooded eyes sparkling gold, she stretched her mind out and wrapped him up in her own inner power, showing him her strength and that she was no mere girl. She clawed at his arse and up his back and he moaned.

"What are you waitin' for, Time Lord?" she asked with passion hoarse voice. "Are you gonna shag me or just play around all night?" She dug her heels into his arse while she gripped his wet hair and tugged hard until he crashed his lips against hers and slid deep inside of her. He growled into her mouth as his body and mind into her with one thought, mine. Teeth clashed and nipped as she clawed at him while he pounded into her at a punishing pace. His hand slid between them and he roughly pressed against her clit until he felt her walls beginning to clench around him.

Rose knew this was going to be hot and hard shagging and it wouldn't be the first time. They were both strong-willed and determined not be controlled by the other. They had a strong physical bond as well as telepathic. His skin pressed against hers, the feel of his chest hair as it erotically brushed her breasts, that spicy scent that was all him, the feel of his unshaven cheek as it rubbed against her soft skin mixed with the sound of his voice whispering filthy things or singing to her in Gallifreyan just stoked something deep inside of her and drenched her knickers making her want him, all of him, to feel him thick and full inside of her. She loved him and she didn't hold back that feeling, even when she was mad at him. Being in a hot steamy shower while he shagged her so hard she would be tender for days was nothing new and something she would not complain about.

As he stroked her and his grunts became more guttural, his muscles tensed and she knew he was close. She felt the burgeoning of his orgasm through their bond and she bit down hard on his shoulder as he shifted her and hit that one spot inside of her that left her screaming his name whilst her body convulsed around him, driving him over the edge and kicking in his respiratory bypass. Eventually, she felt herself sliding down the wall into the warm water pooled on the floor. He joined her, kneeling before her as she leaned back and looked at him.

"Please do this for me," he finally said, water dripping from his hair and his face was more relaxed, all prior anger having ebbed away.

Rose just nodded and a truce was enacted between them. They finished cleaning each other and dressed for the Gallifreyan ambassadorial party.

The Doctor dressed himself in formal robes of gold and scarlet and Rose was dressed in a similarly styled dress that shimmered in the light, while panels of sheer scarlet material showed off her well toned legs. For the most part, Rose remained quiet, nodding her head occasionally and performing the complicated tea ceremony which she now mostly had right. She could tell the emissaries were watching her carefully, almost like they were waiting for her to make a mistake. Rose did her best to hold her temper and keep in mind that this was important to the Doctor.

She felt him grow aggravated with her when she made an error, and despite her telepathic assurances that she was doing the best she could, she was met with stony, telepathic silence from him. At the end of ceremonial greeting and welcome, she was happy to leave them to their political discussions. She left them without any word, either spoken or telepathic from him. It was clear that he was unhappy with her and she wasn't too happy with him right now either. She went to bed alone that night and was tormented by nightmares. She dreamed of Time Lords destroying the Earth and Gallifrey, of screaming, darkness and a loneliness so horrible, it almost consumed her. She woke up gasping the next morning, alone in their large bed and she shivered. The sunrise shining into the room filled her with dread. The very air seemed wrong. She felt physically ill, as if there was an infection slithering its way down her timeline. This was a foreboding unlike any she had ever known and that's when everything clicked; that's when she understood.

"A storm is comin'," she whispered, her eyes filled with tears and she gripped the sheets to her. There was no running from this.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Once again, thank you to the amazing Callistawolf for making this so much better than it was. This chapt - here come the crazy Time Lords!

Rose was on edge all during the Gallifreyan delegates' tour of the Earth facilities. The Doctor was in a particularly foul mood. He was tense, snippy, and shooting her dark glances along with the telepathic equivalent of we'll talk about this later and don't muck this up.

She knew this visit was important to him. That morning, she'd put on her standard jeans, blue lace blouse, black leather coat and boots. It was while she was combing her hair that she felt compelled to not only look the part of the Lady Protector but to be prepared for anything that happened. With that in mind, she loaded her bigger on the inside pockets with a few useful tools and hoped none of them were necessary. She looked at herself in the mirror, the Gallifreyan pendant the Doctor had given her after their bonding winking at her in the light and felt a pain shoot through her head. She gasped and pressed her fingers to her temples. When she looked back into the mirror, she thought she saw someone standing behind her. She whipped around but no one was there. She turned back to the mirror and saw but she was alone in her room.

Something was off. Rose tried to put the feeling of being watched behind her and made her way out of the bedroom, pausing once to look back at the room. She had a horrible feeling she would never see it again. Once again, she shrugged it off. The Doctor was expecting her and he would be livid if she was late. As she walked to his office, she pondered his recent mood and why he was putting so much importance on this meeting with the Gallifreyan ambassadors. He'd never given a whiff about impressing anyone from his planet before but now it seemed he'd changed his mind. Rose wondered if it was in part due to the memories she carried of his counterpart in her home universe, a lonely Time Lord longing for a world he could never see again. Another thought was that perhaps this was to protect her from any Time Lords who decided she was next up on the dissection table. Rose knew that she was not completely safe from such a fate and the only thing standing in between her and ending up as some Time Lord experiment was the Doctor. It was a burden she hated for him to carry.

This played into a particular insecurity of hers. They loved each other but was that enough to overcome cultural differences? He wanted her to be a part of his culture and that meant giving up a bit of her own heritage and spending countless hours studying his and trying to overcome what she perceived as her own limitations. She would never have the resiliency of a Time Lord, have a comparable sensitivity to time, the ability to regulate her biologic functions or have their brilliant mind, capable of calculating a hundred different things simultaneously. Part of her also resented that she felt bad for that. Why should she? He fell in love with her slightly hybridized human self and that should be enough. Yet, didn't she also expect him to understand her culture and accept her morals? She slept more than him, needed more loo breaks and required more meals than he did and he indulged her even though he grumbled about it but still, he accepted her needs. Then again, he also bristled about her wanting to participate in Earth holiday celebrations or the festivals she wanted to attend or even her need to spend time amongst the masses of London and establish friendships with other humans. All of this made her question them as a couple and it hurt. She loved him so much and yet if they couldn't overcome this obstacle… Rose knew in her heart that if she was holding him back, if he could have a better life without her, she would let him go even if it ripped her heart out. She just wasn't ready to take that step yet and she hoped he wasn't either.

dwdwdwdwdwdwdwdw

Things went pear shaped at a tour of the Universal Cultural Exchange Center on the outskirts of London. The Doctor and Ambassador Longinquus and his party were discussing the merits and disadvantages of more off worlders on Earth culture when Rose felt a wave of nausea overcome her and she slumped against a nearby wall.

Everyone stopped and stared at her. Lady Stephanoupkoa, who was one of the Time Ladies Rose had first encountered when landing on Earth, was the first to comment. "You look quite unwell," she stated simply although there was a far off look in her eyes.

The Doctor sighed and sent her a telepathic boost and reminded her that showing weakness before these Time Lords was a mistake. Rose inhaled and stood up straight and looked at the Time Lords standing around her, looking annoyed. "Sorry, it's just, I felt something…" she said, not completing her sentence but looking off to a courtyard to their right.

Lady Stephanoupkoa looked at Rose and then toward the courtyard. "A temporal fluctuation," she said softly and her brow furrowed in worry.

"Yeah," Rose acknowledged.

"It's nothing," the Doctor announced dismissively. "Just an important event in human development approaching. Rose is sensitive to the flow of time and is still learning how to interpret what she perceives. She's quite gifted that way, if a little untrained."

Lord Longinquus, the prime ambassador from Gallifrey, a muscular looking brown haired man about the height of the Doctor, looked at Rose as if he could see her thoughts. Rose reinforced her mental barriers in response. He smirked at her. "Your mistress is quite observant. Does she often feel temporal occurrences so strongly?" he asked, his eyes never leaving Rose.

"Rose is very talented, as you well know. Gallifrey owes her a great debt of gratitude. I believe your son was about to be executed by the Master when Rose and I intervened and stopped his mad rampage," the Doctor pointed out with an edge to his voice. He didn't like the way Lord Longinquus was looking at Rose, and wanted to be sure there was no question that Rose was his.

Lord Longinquus looked at him coldly. "I am well aware of the events of that day. Just as I'm aware as to why you have been bound to this primitive world. Don't misconstrue your status on this world or the disgrace on your house, Lord Doctor. I am here to evaluate your fulfillment of your duties to Gallifrey and whether or not you and Miss Tyler pose a threat. It did not escape the high council's notice that you established an unusual and potentially dangerous relationship with this…creature."

The Doctor felt his temper, which was already volatile, begin to blaze. He had done everything the council asked, well… within reason, of course. There was no way he would stand here and allow this simpering soft political sycophant to lecture him or threaten him and Rose. Before he could unleash the Oncoming Storm on the sniffing, disdainful Time Lord, Rose stepped forward and bumped against his arm sending telepathic comforting thoughts and an image of her holding his hand. Unfortunately, she couldn't actually grasp his hand as this would break the stilted and stuffy Time Lord Etiquette, although she was itching to do so whilst telling the pompous arse he could shove it. This made the Doctor quirk a slight smile.

"I'm sorry, Ambassador, if my reaction to that time fluctuation upset you. The Doctor's right and I feel things a bit differently than a Time Lord. Time Lords are superior and experienced in such things," she said, playing up to the ambassador's vanity and ego.

The ambassador sniffed. "Quite," he responded in a clipped tone.

Lady Stephanoupkoa stepped forward. "I am not sure I agree. This was more than a simple tremor from an approaching fixed point in this planet's evolution. Several of my colleagues have experienced… odd fluctuations, almost as if someone was manipulating time lines, nearing a paradox."

"A paradox!" Lord Longinquus said loudly, snorting. "You've been on Earth amongst these primitives too long!" Several of his party murmured their agreement.

The Doctor was silent and staring at her, almost as if seeing what she was talking about, now less sure of his own assessment. Rose felt that same sharp pain in her head she had felt before, and squeezed her eyes shut. There was a ringing in her ears and she could just barely hear the Time Lords talking around her. A pressure built as if the air was pressing down on her. She heard Lady Stephanoupkoa shout something in Gallifreyan before all hell broke loose.

Someone grabbed her and yanked her back away from the Doctor. Rose still couldn't hear much more than muffled voices, but whomever grabbed her felt wrong. There was a coldness that enveloped her, an odd scent that was familiar, but she couldn't place it and her skin prickled with an overwhelming sensation of something dark and dangerous, as if the universe itself was about to convulse. When she looked around, it was as if everything was still but not. Then it hit her, time was being manipulated and slowed down. She had one thought, Time Lords. The Doctor had once told her that Time Lords could stop or slow time as they wished. He'd snorted and called it child's play, a game that they played as children. Rose was sure this was no game.

The Doctor stared in shock as a group of Time Lords transmatted around them. He recognized each and every face. They were his family, the family he had lost to the void, only these were not the family he remembered. They were withered, aged, bitter, twisted and filled with rage and resentment. They grabbed Rose and held a temporal accelerator gun to Rose's temple. One shot would cause her cellular structures to age and disintegrate and in the course of a few minutes she would be nothing but dust. The Doctor swallowed hard and tried to calm himself.

"Cousin Sid," he finally acknowledged, using the shortened version of his cousin's name that he knew would annoy Insidousaunum.

"Doctor," Lord Insidousaunum acknowledged in a smooth voice. "I'm sure you are surprised to see us."

"Yes, quite surprised," Lady Ambitosanal acknowledged, walking in between the Doctor and his cousin now holding Rose, shooting Rose a disdainful look and noting the bonding pendant the Doctor had given her. She all but sneered at Rose before turning her cold eyes on the Doctor, her black hooded cape flowing about her.

"A human? Really, Doctor? How pathetic and insulting that you would choose this primitive, ignorant, unsophisticated and disgusting creature to taint yourself with. You've fallen even more into the proverbially human gutter than I ever thought possible. You used to have standards and adhere to Rassilon's laws. Now what are you? A traitor, murder, betrayer of your own kind and of your own family," she spit out, narrowing her eyes at him. "Does she know, your little human?"

Time snapped back around Rose. She felt a whoosh of air and gasped as she watched the reactions around her. She had still maintained her connection to the Doctor whilst caught in whatever time distortion they'd shoved her into. She had felt his shock, sadness and anger. Now, she could see the impact of these new Time Lords on the others. The ambassadorial party looked nervous and a subtle air of fear hung about them.

"Does she know how you disposed of us, your family, your own wife?" she hurled at him. She turned and looked at Rose with a vicious triumphant look. "Did he inform you, little ape, how he murdered his own family, slowly oh so slowly? He threw us into the Void, the Howling, the nothingness between universes." She looked at Rose shrewdly. "You know what that is don't you? Our sources tell us you traversed it to come to this world and you know what a cold and destructive place it is. Can you imagine being trapped there for centuries in a vessel that is damaged while that darkness leaks in and steals your essence. Can you imagine the pain and suffering you endure as you watch your children and grandchildren slowly destroyed before you? You are trapped, helpless, while you feel your own life, a life that should have spanned millennia, being drained away and there's nothing you can do to stop it." She paused for impact. "All you have is hope that your husband, the head of your house, will rescue you, the family, and save you from an unspeakable death!"

"Am, there was nothing I could do," the Doctor started to say in a soft voice, sadness and pain evident in his eyes.

She whipped around. "Nothing!" she shouted at him. "And don't call me that despicable nickname. My name is Ambitosanal and you will not lie to me, husband!" she shouted, her fists clenched and her cloaked figure shaking with her fury.

Rose swallowed hard at that comment. She knew he'd lost family, but he refused to talk about it. It had been too painful for him. Now, she was face to face with not just his judgmental family, but his own wife, a Time Lady. It made Rose realize how much about him she really didn't know.

The sky darkened and thunder sounded ominously, almost as if reacting to the events unfolding. There was no one else around in the building or courtyard and Rose wondered if they'd fled or been killed. A cool wind blew but it couldn't disperse the thick air of tension. Rose felt the tight cool grip of Lord Insidousaunum and the cold metal of the weapon he had pressed against her temple. He seemed unconcerned about her and was focused on Lady Ambitosanal, who appeared to enjoy her chastening of the Doctor. His grip on Rose never wavered and she watched his other Time Lord accomplices, who Rose noticed all looked gaunt, some trembling slightly, and all armed with dark eyes fixed on the Doctor and the ambassador. Some were muttering gibberish to themselves, talking about how never-ending darkness will reign, how it all will end in fire whilst singing songs and giggling. Rose realized they were all quite barking mad and this situation was even more dangerous than she'd first thought.

Lady Ambitosanal continued, "I know that you and those pompous, self serving fools left us there to die!" She held up her bony hand and pointed at him. "You! You were responsible for putting us there and it was your ineptitude that consecrated us to a slow death."

The Doctor paled, but that was the only sign of his response. He remained tall with the air of someone who would not be cowed by such accusations, but Rose knew better. Inside, he was in a tumultuous sea of doubt, guilt and remorse. This was what he had run from and now he couldn't do that anymore. He was being forced to confront his past.

"There was nothing I could do. The beacon wasn't functioning and the Council refused to…"

"Spare me your inane excuses and lies!" Lady Ambitosanal snapped. "It is obvious you, like the Council, swept us aside as though we meant nothing. No one spared a thought for us, certainly not you!"

"That is not true!" the Doctor said, raising his voice emotionally for the first time. "Not a day went by that I didn't think about you, about everything I lost."

Lady Ambitosanal snorted. "You are pathetic. Chancellor and Lord Protector of this feeble and festering planet. Humans, you always had an unfathomable fascination for them and it appears you've chosen them over your own heritage!"

"No!" the Doctor said sternly. "That's not true. I wanted to come after you, but the Council forbade it. They forbade it and then they punished me for doing what I was ordered to do. They sentenced me to be the overseer of this world. I was forbidden to leave and they put a temporal and spacial lock on my TARDIS."

Finally, Lord Insidousaunum spoke. "And tell us, Doctor, did it ever occur to you that you deserved to be punished?"

The Doctor stared darkly at the gaunt, white haired Lord Insidousaunum. Rose felt a cold, deep seated rage that the Doctor aimed at his cousin. Oh, he was angry that she was being threatened, but Rose had a feeling this went for beyond that. There was a history between these two.

"If I did anything wrong, Sid, it was to allow you into that Void ship, to make any attempt to save your conceited, avaricious arse from burning. I should have tossed you aside instead of dragging you to that Void ship. Time I wasted saving you was time I could have spent making sure that ship was safe!"

Lord Insidousaunum smiled coldly. "And yet, I am dying, Doctor. It is a slow death, but one that allows me to gain the satisfaction of watching you suffer and I will watch you suffer Doctor. You will endure pain for not ensuring the safety of your family. You were careless on your mission to wage war. You and your band of renegades were typically sloppy."

"What do you mean?" the Doctor demanded in a hard voice.

"Ahhhh, y, ,,,ou don't know," Lord Insidousaunum said with a smirk. "You are an inept fool, never worthy of the honor of being the head of such a great house. You see, Doctor, you and your little band of warriors didn't close the Void all the way. When you enacted the Final Sanction, the reverberations pulsed through the Void. Our vessel, being the last to enter the Void, was impacted, damaged and this sealed our fate."

Rose felt her breath catch. She knew the Doctor felt responsible for their loss and she worried at what this would mean to him. She felt a shattering sadness and guilt, but a different guilt than when he thought their loss was due to his not assuring the beacon was functioning. That had been a personal failure. This was just a tragic accident.

"That shouldn't have happened," he answered tonelessly, his eyes turning to Lady Ambitosanal. "Am, you know I sent you away to save you, save the family. I was the one that was supposed to die, not you."

"Save your excuses. You were a failure as a husband, father, head of this house and Time Lord. You are correct, you should have died and that is something we can rectify but not before you suffer as we have suffered."

She turned to Lord Insidousaunum with a sinister smile on her face, her dark eyes sparkling with vengeance and nodded her head. "My dear cousin, it is time for the Doctor to know pain and loss."

The other mad Time Lords called out their agreement. Rose looked around, horrified and worried about what they were about to do. The head of the Gallifreyan ambassadorial party stepped forward.

"Lady Ambitosanal, clearly your complaints have merit. Please allow Gallifrey to welcome you home, to assess your injuries and make reparations. The Gallifrey you knew is gone, but we have rebuilt. New Gallifrey is better. We are better. Please allow me to contact the Council so we can see to your needs. I assure you, those that injured you will be punished," he said in a typical polished and political manner.

Lord Insidousaunum chuckled, his grip on Rose tightening until she thought he would break her shoulder.

"Oh, Ambassador, do not fear, those that betrayed us will be punished. All of them."

A hunched and gaunt looking Time Lady stepped forward and shot the Ambassador with a Temporal Acceleration gun and they watched as the Time Lord screamed whilst he aged, withered, and glowed with regeneration energy that quickly dissipated whilst his body decayed and turned to nothing but dust before them.

Rose was terrified and even more frightened when the mad Time Lords cheered and clapped. She kept thinking over and over, "this is bad, this is so bad"

"Sid, please don't do this," the Doctor said, his voice breaking just slightly at the implications at what they had just done. They had just murdered a respected member of the council. Gallifrey would waste no time in disposing of all of them.

"Oh, but I am, Doctor. I'm doing this and much, much more. Ohhh, t he plans we have and you, my dear cousin, will have a front row seat. You are going to watch as we destroy not just Earth, but Gallifrey and any other planet that collaborated with them.

"But first," Lady Ambitosanal, said with a cold smile. "First, we have another matter to see to, don't we Lord Insidousaunum?"

"Quite," he answered and a small golden metallic sphere slowly lowered to the ground. It was a void ship. Rose began to tremble as visions of nightmares began to flash before her, time lines twisted and contorted. She looked over at the Doctor in terror, and he stared back with an expression she had never seen before. He was afraid.

"I thought it fitting that you should lose the one human you hold above all others, that she should suffer the fate you inflicted upon us," Ambitosanal stated, tucking a graying lock of curly dark hair back under the hood of her cloak.

"No!" the Doctor shouted and took a step forward. Lord Insidousaunum pressed his gun into Rose's temple and the Doctor stopped, his gaze moving from Lord Insidousaunum to Rose. He turned to Lady Ambitosanal. "Please, don't do this. Your issue is with me, not Rose. She wasn't even here during the Time War."

Lady Ambitosanal smiled cruelly and walked up to him and caressed his face before slapping him, hard. "Do you think I really care about that? She's nothing except…" she paused. "Except she has meaning to you. You love her! As I have lost, so shall you. I condemn her, the one you love, to the same fate you condemned me…us, our family!"

"No!" the Doctor shouted again and he stared fearfully at Rose as the implications of what they intended became clear. His hearts slammed in his chest and his mind raced to find a solution.

"Oh my God," Rose gasped as she was dragged, struggling, toward the small void ship.

Tears filled her eyes as she realized she might not ever see her Doctor again. She focused her mind on his and through their bond sent him love, as much love as she could manage. She didn't want him to doubt her love and devotion. "I love you, have always loved you, will always love you! Please, this wasn't your fault! You have to be strong, save Earth, save Gallifrey! Remember, I love you!"

His own mind was whirling with possibilities, but one thing was at the forefront and he poured it through their bond into her mind. "I love you and I will find you, even if I have to tear time and the multiverse apart. Never doubt that I will come for you, my Rose, my beloved. There will never be another for me. You are my Uncommon Rose."

Rose was roughly shoved into the Void ship, which sealed without a sound. It shot upward and disappeared into a rift that formed in the sky. "Nooooo!" the Doctor shouted as he felt her presence ripped from his mind. He felt terror mixed with a seething anger build within him. As he watched the Void pod disappear, the mad Time Lords converged on him, grabbing him roughly as he struggled, watching as his universe splintered and the world around him metamorphosed into darkness.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Big thanks to Callistawolf who had the patience to beta this chapter. The Corsair makes an appearance. If you don't recall, the Corsair regenerated at the end of A Smouldering Storm into the image of a certain Captain ;)

At first, the Doctor was numb as the insane Time Lords, his family, assaulted him. He was bleeding, contused with his clothing ripped and torn as they continued to taunt, kick and pummel him. Rose was gone. He had watched helpless as they hurled her into the Void. The last precious seconds they had shared almost crushed his hearts. Once her void ship disappeared, he couldn't feel her in his mind except for one small tendril that clung to his consciousness, one last whisp of her love that stubbornly embedded itself in his mind. It was that last golden thread that set his determination. He would not lose her. Glimpses of her memories of his counterpart, giving up and leaving her locked away on a cold windy beach echoed about his thoughts. He couldn't let that happen, couldn't allow the Void to have her.

It was surreal that his family, well what was left of them, were here now, perpetrating some act of vengeance on him. He had lost Rose not to some phantom other him, not to Time Lord treachery, but due to his own past actions. This wasn't just some adventure he'd been caught up in, this was personal, this was war. These Time Lords, and he was reluctant to even call them that, had not only killed the Ambassador but the other Time Lords who had been with their party, other Time Lords who had been his friends. A few had escaped, including Lady Stephanoupkoa, who had been one of the few to listen to Rose when she'd tried to warn them. Guilt and self flagellation oozed over him in dark, thick waves. He should have paid closer attention to what Rose was experiencing. Instead, he'd assumed she was being emotional and human. Thoughts of their last row tormented him, how he had been demanding and unsympathetic to her feelings. There was no time for guilt now. He would deal with those emotions later. He needed to focus on the present and the dangers currently surrounding him and threatening every living thing in the universe.

This all started with the Time War. Still. After all this time, he was suffering the repercussions for the choices he had made during that horrible conflict. It had never occurred to him when he'd tucked his family away in that void ship that he was doing anything but saving them. Little did he know, he had been sowing the seeds for some of the greatest pain he'd ever felt, the loss of Rose. Her absence from his mind and the look he'd seen on her face as they tossed her into that void ship, was more painful than any physical abuse they could impose on him.

Once his insane family finished mauling him, they started to drag him toward Torchwood Tower so he could watch as they destroyed London. They'd taken great pleasure in telling him about the temporal bombs they had set around the city. He would watch as they set off each and every one. He would hear the screams of people being rapidly aged, turning into desiccated corpses, and the city disintegrating into dust before him. The time lines would tangle and stretch around him, like nails on the chalkboard of his time sense.

It wouldn't stop there; they had plans for Gallifrey too. As they gleefully tugged and pushed him along the street, terrorizing the population along the way by randomly shooting people with the temporal accelerator weapons, showing the population their fate as their victims turned to dust before all to see, his mind was focused on how to stop them. Rose had asked him to fight, to save Earth and Gallifrey. Her final thoughts to him, the raw emotion she had conveyed, how her love tugged at him and made him want to fight and not allow his family to rain destruction on the universe. Rose was his inspiration and as he thought of her, a possibility slowly unfurled before him. The time lines were in flux with so many unstable Time Lords acting irrationally and impulsively, but he could see a few threads shining golden before him as if she was here, gently guiding him. It occurred to him that a bit of her was here, the Bad Wolf. When he formed a bond to Rose, he was bonded to Bad Wolf as well and that entity accepted him, and marked him as one of its own. Part of him was bitter against it for not saving Rose, but he couldn't deny it was there, waiting and watching, just beneath the surface.

He was finally hurled into his large office at the top of Torchwood Tower, the windows wide and expansive, giving everyone a stunning view of the London skyline that was now darkened by black clouds , lit up now only with the occasional flash of lightening. The Doctor was on his knees and he looked around the posh executive suite as Insidousaunum and Ambitosanal led a parade of failing and clearly demented Time Lords around the room. Several ran toward his TARDIS in the corner, pawing at her and trying to gain entry. He could feel his ship's distress at having such unbalanced Time Lords around her and the strain on the time lines due to their actions was also taking a toll. Of course, there was one other thing that was affecting her as well; Rose. His Rose had a special connection to his TARDIS. It wasn't just him that was suffering from the loss of Rose.

Lord Insidousaunum settled before the Doctor's desk and with a few quick wave of his hand, began pulling up images across the world. He enlarged the holographic images for all to see and then, in the center, an image of Gallifrey appeared. With eyes lit with madness, he zoomed into the domed capital city giving the Doctor a good view of what was happening.

The Doctor's attention was diverted from his TARDIS by the image of the events unfolding on Gallifrey. "No, no, no," he said, reaching up and tugging at his hair in horror at what he saw and felt. The city was in shambles and terrified voices could be heard as a tear in the universe gaped like the hungry jaws of some prehistoric carnivorous beast directly over the Citadel. A vortex of energy surrounded it and tendrils of the Void seemed to slither out like some sinuous, dark beast, reaching down toward the city. As the Doctor focused on Gallifrey and his people, a wave of terror slammed into him and screams for help reverberated in his mind. He turned to Insidousaunum and Ambitosanal, who were staring at the image. Insidousaunum was looking at it like an excited child receiving a brightly wrapped gift while Ambitosanal stared in shock and horror until a nervous giggle escaped and she backed away from it, as if the Void would reach through and wrap around her, dragging her back into its dark depths.

Time Lord outrage filled him. His people who he'd fought so hard to protect, had sacrificed so much for and bore punishment for defending, had risked Rose for, were now facing extinction at the hands of monsters who were once his family,.

"Watch, Doctor, watch how they will pay for their betrayal! They will know the pain they caused with their flagrant disregard for our torment!" shouted Insidousaunum, speaking in a cultured Gallifreyan voice, a look of ecstasy on his face. "I will have revenge and I will lead my people to victory and superiority over all species!"

Ambitosanal had turned toward the view of London as the city began to fall. "Ashes, ashes we all fall down," she whispered and giggled, turning once to look at the Doctor with tears in her eyes. "We're all going to die and the pain will be over," she said, smiling slightly and she turned back to watch the city fall, bringing her shaking hands to her face as if to hide from the city falling to ruin. It was like all the anger had ebbed from her and what remained was a broken, empty shell. The hunched and pale Time Lady who had shot the ambassador now hobbled over and rocked back and forth, muttering in Gallifreyan about the proper tea to serve for the end of the universe.

The Doctor watched them against the backdrop of London's destruction. It was more than just anger afflicting him now, it was time lines snapping and twisting as lives were cut short, lives that served a greater purpose and the city began to disintegrate ever so slowly before him. His life was pain now, from the razor sharp pain in his hearts and the emptiness in that part of his mind that Rose normally occupied, to the screams of his people searing through him mixed with the nausea and almost physical agony from what was happening on Earth. He focused on the excruciating pain, as if it was the only thing keeping him alive and he channeled it into the dark place he kept locked away. There was nothing stopping him from unleashing that pent up anger and bitterness. Rose was gone and the good Time Lord, the good man he tried to be for her, was ruthlessly shoved aside. This was the warrior he had become in the Time War, the Dark Lord, an angry and malevolent force of time and he would vent his rage on all those who waged war against those he cared for.

The Wolf was with him now, as she had not been with him when he'd lost Rose. In his bitterness, he fought that power that had failed him and Rose, but it refused to be dismissed. A cold and determined fury settled in him. He stood up, his black eyes glinting sparks of gold. Those that had taunted and abused him and let their madness roam free recoiled, some falling to the floor, wailing.

Ambitosanal turned to him and gasped, sinking to the floor in submission and fear. "Noooo, it must be done, it must end. Everything must end in fire and darkness!" she said shaking, cowering before him.

Lord Insidousaunum turned to him and stumbled back a step. "You can't stop this! I am the Destroyer, the Darkness personified. I am more powerful than any Time Lord! I will have my rightful place and rule all!"

The Doctor never spoke. He walked slowly toward his insane cousin who pulled a dagger out and hurled it at the Doctor. The dagger stopped in mid air, inches from the Doctor's head, and then fell to the carpeted floor with a dull thud. The Doctor stepped forward. Insidousaunum, Cousin Sid, pulled out the temporal acceleration gun and aimed it at the Doctor, his hand shaking. The Doctor lunged at him before Sid could pull the trigger.

The Doctor's expression didn't change. This new development didn't even faze him, if anything he smirked as if it was a non issue, and before Cousin Sid could fire the weapon, the Doctor was on him. Lady Ambitosanal had been watching them from the place she had huddled on the floor. Somewhere deep in her mind, through the madness, a tiny spark of sanity reasserted itself, the notion that she had to stop these two Time Lords, if for no other reason than for the honour of her house. Ambitosanal, in her saner days before the Time War, had been an intelligent and respected lady focused on preserving her name and seeing to it that her children and grandchildren were not marred by her husband's eccentric and rebellious behavior. She'd been, frankly, not entirely unhappy that he'd left, as it had given her leave to control every aspect of their house and had allowed her political freedom even if she'd had to make concessions here and there due to the actions of her renegade husband. Her descent into madness had turned her into the polar opposite of the Time Lady she'd been, except for this one moment, when she remembered what was most important to her: her family's honour.

She shot forward, clawing at the two struggling Time Lords, trying to wrestle the weapon from them. Her grip on this tiny moment of sanity was threadlike and tentative. She could snap at any moment, but she focused on the weapon. Cousin Sid was consumed with his own madness and hatred, which fueled his burst of strength. He didn't care about Ambitosanal or what was right, he only wanted to kill and destroy. He pulled the trigger and everything paused. The room went silent as those afflicted with void madness paused and stared. The Doctor was still for a moment before he slowly looked to Ambitosanal. His anger seemed to flee as he watched his one time wife fall to the ground in pain. She hand't been hit directly, but it was enough to cause a slow temporal acceleration. He yanked the weapon from Cousin Sid's hand and used it to smash him aside his head until he fell to the floor. He knelt by Ambitosanal and pulled out his sonic, determined to reverse the effects.

"No," she gasped and an already aged and gnarled hand reached for his arm, her eyes growing milky and sightless as she tried to speak.

"Am, I can fix this," he said with a broken voice as he vainly soniced the weapon. "It'll be all right and I'll take you home."

"Too late," she gasped and laughed hysterically. "I'm already dead! It devoured me just like it will her!"

The Doctor stopped and stared at her, at the horror of what she'd just revealed. "No," he said emotionally. "I won't let that happen."

Am continued to slowly age before his eyes. A diminished regeneration energy enveloped her body and disappeared twice as she continued to deteriorate. "I am done," she rasped and turned to him even though she couldn't see. She rasped out one word before she completely desiccated and turned to dust, "Forgive."

The Doctor looked at the weapon in his hand and felt a new surge of anger. He aimed his sonic at it until it was a lump of molten silver metal. He turned toward his cousin , who was crawling away toward the desk.

A fury unlike any he had ever felt overtook him. Insidousaunum had always been corrupt, vindictive and coldly determined to ascend to the highest possible office, even as a young Time Lord. The Doctor could well remember his attempts to subvert other members of their house on Gallifrey, manipulating those around him and even orchestrating a few accidents or deaths to claw his way to the top. There had been one particular incident when the Doctor had been on trial and Cousin Sid had done everything in his power to see him found guilty and put to death, even colluding with other Time Lords from other great houses of Gallifrey to achieve his goal. It was no surprise that void madness only enhanced his already dubious morals and that he would still be focused on achieving power. With this in mind, the Doctor rose up and stood tall and imposing, enveloped in temporal energy and with a bit of Bad Wolf howling through his veins.

He prowled toward Cousin Sid, who turned and growled at him before laughing.

"You killed her," Insidousaunum accused amidst his insane giggles. "You killed your own wife."

"Don't even go there," the Doctor said in a hard clipped voice, his face a stony mask of anger. He continued toward Insidousaunum, who scurried back a few more feet, grinning all the while, his eyes filled with an unfathomable insanity.

The Doctor shot forward and yanked him up, holding Cousin Sid by his neck in one hand so that his feet dangled just above the floor. "Tell me about the ship you used to send Rose into the Void! What's the beacon frequency! What did you use to open the Void on Gallifrey?" the Doctor demanded, squeezing his hand on his mad cousin's neck as emphasis.

Cousin Sid giggled again and his hands shot out, grappling at the Doctor and scratching his face and neck whilst kicking his legs about in a feeble attempt at escaping. The Doctor squeezed harder and pulled his sonic out, pressing it to Sid's temple and again he demanded, "Tell me!"

"They're all going to die!" was his raspy response. "And so will your Rose," he croaked and he continued grinning.

Suddenly, the room was crackling with energy, the very walls of the building shimmered in and out of existence as if in response to the Doctor's rage. The Doctor squeezed Insidousaunum's neck and something snapped, causing the mad Time Lord to engage his respiratory bypass. "You murdered them both now," Sid rasped out as his air supply diminished.

The Doctor became almost unrecognizable in that moment, his eyes turned so black with power and Time Lord fury that they leached the very heat out of the air. His face was unrelenting, hard, almost as though chiseled from stone. In that moment, compassion wasn't even a concept to him. There was no remorse or guilt, only judge, jury and executioner. His mad cousin's life was forfeit. The Doctor was just about to end the pitiful creature, this killer of his own kind. Visions of Rose's smiling face, of her on his TARDIS, laying beneath him in passion and valiantly fighting by his side to save Gallifrey, filled his mind. If she had been there, she would want him to show mercy, but she wasn't there. She was hurtling through the Void as a result of Insidousaunum's actions. He deserved no mercy.

"No second chances," the Doctor said coldly and he activated the sonic against Sid's temple causing Sid to scream, his hands flailed and he convulsed in the Doctor's iron clad grip. The Doctor paused and yanked Sid close to his face. "If you won't tell me, you'll show me," he said in a soft dangerous voice and slammed his forehead against his cousin's.

The Doctor was ruthless as he stormed into the insane mind of his cousin. There was nothing gentle about it. He was akin to a surgeon, cutting away damaged and necrotic tissue. If it was painful for Sid, it was just as distasteful to the Doctor, who had to bear witness to the dark and twisted mind of the Void-mad Time Lord. Eventually, the Doctor pulled out in revulsion.

Still holding his mentally deranged cousin, he stared at him with disgust towards the dark images, memories of things his cousin had done and planned to do as well as the demented plans he'd laid out to destroy everyone. When Insidousaunum recovered, he looked wildly around the room at his cousin Time Lords and Ladies who were milling about, watching the Doctor's assault on Sid, or cowering in fear.

"Kill him! Kill the one who stole your lives. Kill the one who murdered Ambitosanal!" Insidousaunum croaked.

This seemed to perk up the mad Time Lords, who then advanced on the Doctor. The Doctor, however, remained focused on Cousin Sid. "I saw you, Sid. I saw what you did during the war, before this madness ever afflicted you. You murdered to gain power. Void adness didn't destroy you. You were already dead."

"You will die just like the others! I win!" Sid said in a raspy, triumphant voice.

"No, you lose," the Doctor said in the softest deadliest voice and without one bit of remorse, he activated his sonic against Sid's temple and watched as Sid screamed, glowed and began to burn. The Doctor dropped him and watched as his cousin became nothing but a burnt husk. Just as the Doctor turned to face his other deranged cousins, a familiar TARDIS materialized and several Time Lords and Ladies ran out, armed for battle and led by the Corsair.

These were not the same renegade Time Lords that had come to the defense of Gallifrey with the Doctor. They were a variety of scientists and explorers, some who the Doctor knew and others just vague acquaintances. All were armed. The doors to his office burst open and Lady Stephanoupkoa along with two other Time Lords stepped in, ready to do battle.

The Corsair strode forward dressed in tight brown breeches, tall boots and a white ruffled shirt with a black vest. His appearance reminded the Doctor of Rose. He had regenerated into the image of Rose's beloved Captain Jack, thanks in part to Bad Wolf. Rose seemed to leave her mark on everyone she touched.

"Fruxspits" the Corsair cursed softly as he took in the scene before him. The mad Time Lords had paused their attack on the Doctor and were staring at the Corsair and other Time Lords and Ladies. The Doctor remained stiff and tall, radiating anger and vengeance.

"Doctor?" the Corsair asked tentively. He knew things were bad but seeing the Doctor's imposing figure pointing his sonic screwdriver at the demented remnants of his family made it clear things were far worse. There was a cold uncaring air about the Doctor and for anyone with any telepathic sensitivity, they would have run far and fast from him.

"They're insane, Corsair, driven mad by the Void. They've murdered thousands and instigated destruction across Gallifrey and Earth. I have to end it!"

"Where's Rose?" the Corsair asked, fearful for what his friend had become. He'd seen the Doctor like this once before in the Time War, during some of the more devastating battles. Rose had been a good influence on him since that time.

"They," the Doctor paused and swallowed. "They took her and sent her into the Void," he completed with a dark edge to his voice.

The Corsair stared for a moment as the horror sank into him. Even the Time Lords around him shuddered. He had to talk the Doctor down or it wouldn't just be Rose that was lost in darkness.

"What the bloody hell are you doin' standin' around here futzin' with the loonies? Get your arse moving! The Flower needs you!" the Corsair shouted, unafraid of the Doctor's dangerous mood.

The Doctor didn't respond at first. "You don't understand. I have to end this!" he said darkly, his eyes narrowing on one of his cousins, who fell to the floor whimpering under the onslaught of his dark gaze.

The Corsair walked up next to him, looking at him intently. "Listen to me, old friend. You and me, we go way back, we have history together. We've gotten into more than enough trouble, gotten tossed in the pokey, fought our way outta a few tight spots and lived more than most these youngsters here. I think that earns me the right to tell ya a thing or two." The Doctor's stance softened, but he never altered his gaze from piercing his mad cousins before him. "Doctor, you don't need to do this. Gallifrey's already bein' sorted thanks to the Time Lords here that you taught to think on their own, to stand up to twisted fanatics like these, and who got word to President Romana. Lady Steph over there's got a handle on stoppin' the destruction here as well."

"You don't understand, they…they're my responsibility," he said his voice breaking slightly but his stance remained rigid as if he was on the cusp of laying waste to everything around him. "I put them in that ship, in the Void."

"You wanted to save 'em and you did right. Listen to me, I'm older and wiser and I'm tellin' you to stop. There's nothing more you can do here, but you can help Rose. The Flower needs you, as much as you need her. Leave this lot to me and go."

The Doctor turned and looked at the Corsair. "The council will…"

"The Council can go suck it! Leave this to me. You've gotta find her. Go do what you need to but bring our Flower home."

The Doctor turned to Lady Stephanoupkoa who nodded at him encouragingly while keeping her eye on the mad Time Lords milling about the room. His eyes skimmed the room, still unsure, before turning back to the Corsair. He seemed to find something in the Corsair's gaze, almost a pardon from the grim task of ending what his mad family had started.

The Corsair laid a hand on his shoulder and squeezed. "Go. Bring her back." He then shot the Doctor a smile. "When you get back, there'll be a hell of party! Got a nice bottle of Pooshian whiskey just waitin' for something special like this, and hey, the Black Balhoon on Cristest Four in the Apple Five Hydra era is s'posed to be one of the finest pub's in the quadrant! Just the place to take the Flower and put all this nasty business behind her." The Corsair gave him a shove.. "You know how our Flower likes a good party."

The Doctor's arm dropped, he took a deep breath and nodded. He looked once more at the family that had once been his, turned, and disappeared into his TARDIS before dematerializing from one of the worst events in his long life.

The smile and friendly demeanor the Corsair wore disappeared as he faced the Doctor's demented family. It was better the Doctor not be here for what needed to happen He looked at the other Time Lords and nodded at Lady Stephanoupkoa who, with her group, left and locked the doors behind them. They had to round up any other members of the Doctor's family out terrorizing London. They would be busy saving the planet and making reparations to with the Earth government. What happened next at the top of Torchwood Tower was something that no one outside that room would ever discuss again and which would haunt the Corsair and his fellow Time Lords for the rest of their lives.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hugs to my awesome beta Callistawolf! All errors are mine as I tinkered with it after her beta. Special thank you to Valueturtle for the idea about the interior of the void ship.

Dim light glowed against the cold shiny black floor as Rose regained consciousness. She groaned as she sat up slowly and tried to remember how she came to be here, wherever here was. She winced and ran a hand over the side of her head where she felt an egg sized knot. She squinted her eyes taking in her surroundings. As she looked around the dark, cold, empty space, it hit her: She was in the Void. A chill sliced through her as she remembered the insane Time Lords, the Doctor's lost family and the Doctor's wife staring at her with a cold disdain. Tears pooled in her eyes as she thought about the look on the Doctor's face and how devastated he was by everything that happened.

"Oh gawd," she whispered as the grim reality of where she was and what had happened settled over her like in icy shroud. She was alone in a Void ship, lost somewhere in the Howling. The maniacal Time Lords had roughly tossed her in and she had hit her head knocking her out. She had no idea how long she'd been unconscious. Rose stood up and wavered a bit from either the head injury or perhaps the sheer magnitude of how much trouble she was in.

The ship was almost completely silent except for a slight mechanical hum emanating from the somewhere in the dark abyss of this place. That wasn't the worst of it, though. The worst part was the loss of the Doctor occupying a niche in her mind and how it emphasized how alone she was. His presence had always been bold and bright her mind, filling her with an intangible warmth and feelings of safety. Tears streamed down her face as it all sank in, of how completely and utterly alone she was. She squeezed her eyes tight, as if she could banish her devastation. Rose gave herself a moment more to grieve before doing what she'd always done; she tucked away her pain and soldiered on. Memories of her first Doctor filled her mind, how lonely he was and how the emptiness of his mind, once filled with the song of his people, weighed upon him. She understood that now.

She had to focus on the right here, right now, assess her assets, and devise a plan for what she was going to do next.

"All right, I'm in a void ship floatin' around the Void," she muttered and really started to pay attention to her surroundings. The walls were almost a glossy black with something sparkling in them and an eerie red light seemed to dance around in the darkness almost teasing and taunting her. The floor was a similar material. There were two corridors leading away from where she stood, one on the left and one on the right.

Rose chose the corridor to the right and slowly made her way down it, skimming the wall with her hand.

"It's wrong," she whispered and pulled her hand away, wiped it on her jeans as if something on the wall had leached onto her and she needed to scrub it off. Her imagination ran away with her in the dim light. The ship was so alien and she began to wonder if maybe she wasn't as alone as she thought. Or, perhaps the ship was reacting to her. After all, the Doctor had once mentioned that Void ships were prison ships. What if the ship had some type of artificial intelligence? Its purpose could be to keep her disoriented. Other thoughts haunted her. What if it was a prison ship, but she wasn't alone. Memories of millions of Daleks pouring out of a void ship flooded her mind. At one point, she paused and reached out with all her senses trying to determine if her mind was playing tricks on her or there was something skittering around in the blackness of the ship. All she felt was nothingness. Perhaps there was a slight whisper of something, but it wasn't in the ship. The enormity of that discovery did not escape her. She felt her heart begin to pound and adrenalin rush through her as she wrapped her arms around herself and tried to pierce the thick obsidian depths of the corridor. She took a step back as her mind began weaving terrible and frightening possibilities of what lurked in the darkness.

"No," she whispered and tried to tamp down the fear beginning to course through her. "There's nothin' here, and nothin' out there can get in." Once she calmed, she began walking forward. It seemed like she'd walked forever in the never-ending twisting and turning corridor, the only sounds being her boots clicking against the floor and the ever present hum. As she walked, Rose began to doubt and wonder if she should go back the way she came. She felt disoriented and less sure of herself. Images from movies she'd watched with Mickey began to taunt her. She trembled slightly as she thought of movies like _Alien_ and she cursed Mickey for ever making her watch it. Rational Rose knew that it was just a movie and not real. She could almost hear the snark of her first Doctor muttering about humans and their tiny brains. Thoughts of his disdain for what humans believed was real comforted and calmed her.

She focused her imagination on her Doctors and how they would react to being here. What would her Doctors do? She giggled a bit as she knew exactly what they would do. They would argue and bicker. Of that, she was certain. Rose could only be grateful that her present Doctor had never met her first Doctor. That would have been a recipe for disaster. She paused at that thought. _Her Doctor_. Would she ever see him again? Was he even really hers? As she walked forward, her thoughts meandered from fear, to amusement to the recent past with her Doctor.

They had been rowing about her learning Gallifreyan culture and her learning more about the customs of his people. He wanted to bring her more into his world, so she could stand next to him as an equal. She wanted that, but she didn't want to sacrifice her own heritage. He had been so dismissive of it, constantly reminding her she wasn't entirely human anyway. It wasn't like she didn't put forth the effort to learn more about his people's traditions. Rose had honestly tried, but everything was so complicated and it took her so long to learn any of it. He was frustrated and so was she. The more he pressed her, the more she rebelled and resented it. All of their current rows were related to this topic. It had made her want to run.

It did not escape her that one could not run much further away than the Void. The ironic part was she really didn't want to run from him. She loved him. Of that point, there was no doubt in her mind. The question was, would that be enough? More insecurities unfurled and wrapped tightly around her, squeezing her into a state of doubt and sadness. Perhaps she would never be Gallifreyan enough for him. That fact would be a hindrance to him among his people. She couldn't live with that. He deserved respect and a home. At present, he was banished. What if she was what prevented him from returning home?

That thought was the kicker. A deep sadness filled her as her mind plummeted into an abyss of doubt and anguish. She became further convinced she would never be Gallifreyan enough for him. He did have a Gallifreyan wife, and she was back now. Rose's heart clenched as the full impact of that simple fact struck her. His wife had been there. Perhaps this wife of his was angry and a bit mad, but the point was he did have a proper Gallifreyan wife. In time, maybe she would heal and they would…

Tears filled her eyes again. She'd lost him. She'd really lost him this time, and part of that was her fault. Rose stumbled to a stop and slumped down to the floor as despair filled her to the brim. She'd lost everything. Her mum was in another parallel universe with her clone and her other Doctor's metacrisis, her other Doctor didn't even know what had happened to her and she'd lost any friends she'd had in that universe too. There weren't many people in the current universe she could consider friends and now she'd lost the one person who meant everything to her. It was all gone and she was alone in the Void. Misery descended upon her like she had never felt before. It oozed over her threatening to extinguish any light of hope and faith inside of her.

As she lay prone on the floor, she looked down and saw a distorted image of herself reflected in the polished black surface. The reflection reminded her of the mad Time Lords that had assaulted them. They were distorted shadows of themselves. This was a wake up call for her, and she jerked up as if she had been burned. It was the Void. She was being affected by it just as the Time Lords had been. Rose mentally shoved away the morose and gloomy force attempting to drag her down into some hell of despondency.

"No," she said, her face wet with tears. "That's not gonna happen to me. I won't go mad!" She stood up and looked up into the glossy obsidian of the ceiling. "I won't be like them!" she shouted. She took a couple of deep breaths, now angry at herself for allowing this place to worm its way into her mind and tap into her self doubt. She straightened her back and marched down the corridor with new purpose. She would not give in or give up. There must be a way out of here, and she would find it. She hadn't crossed dozens of parallel worlds to give up now and she sure as hell wasn't going to lie down and let this place take her whimpering like some weak and sniveling little Victorian damsel in distress. She was Rose Tyler, Defender of the Multiverse, and it was about time she acted like it.

After telepathically giving herself a good Tyler slap and stern lecture, she began to notice some changes in the dark marble like walls. The red firefly-like lights dancing in or on the walls seemed to be forming a pattern. It was creepy to watch but she shrugged it off and accepted it as yet another new alien aspect that was part of her world and which she needed to get accustomed to. Soon, the corridor grew lighter and widened and she focused her thoughts on thinking about how telepathic Time Lords were. Perhaps telepathy was the key. The TARDIS reacted to her passenger's thoughts, so it wasn't out of the question that this place did as well. She focused her thoughts on a control or navigation room and after rounding a corridor, found herself at a closed door panel with controls off to the side.

Rose cursed. There was writing, but it was in Gallifreyan. She had been slowly learning it but was by no means fluent. She would have to work this out and hope there was no wrong answer traps that would suddenly eject her into the Void. She settled down, shut her eyes, and focused in her mind, trying to reach a meditative state that would help her see the writing in a different way. Gallifreyan writing wasn't just curves and circles on a page. It was vastly complex, involving three dimensional and temporal thinking as well as mathematics. Rose tapped into a place in her mind where the Doctor believed she was connected to the Time Vortex. After a bit of breathing and letting go of her physical concerns, she opened her eyes and began working at unlocking the door. She was silent and focused, not allowing her mind to be cluttered with the emotions that had been brewing or the worries that had almost consumed her. Her fingers lightly danced across the backlit screen until finally there was a whoosh of air as the door opened.

Rose stepped into a small room that would only fit one humanoid. It felt like she was stepping into the Void itself. It was so cold and the interior was the blackest black, except for more dancing red lights moving in a rhythm around what she assumed were the walls. She bumped into a chair and sat down. The room illuminated in a mix of gold and red around her, revealing screens with Gallifreyan writing on them, raised braile-type writing in Gallifreyan script, buttons and touch pads with yet more writing on them. Rose sat back and shut her eyes, feeling a headache coming on. She teared up as once again, the complexity of the task ahead of her became almost overwhelming. She tamped it down. She could do this.

Hours later, Rose was no closer than she had been before. There were a few things that looked vaguely familiar from her TARDIS piloting lessons, but she couldn't be sure. She was cold, hungry, and thirsty, and was feeling a weighty pressure bearing down on her. It was the Void. She just knew that's what it was. An insidious, dark, whispering presence seemed to be swirling around, trying to gain access to her mind, ready to devour her. In frustration, she slammed her hand down on the controls in front of her. Suddenly, the panel disintegrated and a view screen opened up, revealing the Void beyond. Rose stared in abject terror as goose bumps formed on her arms. What she saw was impenetrable and beyond the concept of the description black or dark. It was the absence of light and yet there were subtle currents or fluctuations in what she perceived. Something was out there, watching and waiting for her. Perhaps it was some innate human fear of the dark, of that which lay beyond what one could see. What was more terrible, the monster you could see or the one you couldn't but you knew was lurking out there?

The chill of fear had almost paralyzed her. She squirmed back into the seat gasping as the oppressiveness of this dark and terrible place closed in on her as if swallowing her downward into its black depths. Something was probing her, she could feel it like wet, cold finger tips, grazing her arm. Everything negative, fear, anger, envy and eternal rage, was there, trying to dig through the ship and into her. Trying to scoop out her essence and devour it. She was shaking now, and she reached down to the console, her eyes never leaving that ebony abyss before her and vainly tried to shut this window into the Void.

Nothing happened, no matter what she did, and she became increasingly panicked and slightly hysterical. When it felt like the ship collided with something, Rose Tyler was terrified. She screamed as the Void whispering seemed to resonate off the walls and the dancing red lights became phantoms who mocked her. Her hands covered her ears and she screamed for help, for everything to leave her alone and finally, for her Doctor. She squeezed her eyes shut and screamed for her bond mate telepathically as well as vocally, and something inside of her snapped. The Wolf stretched and shook itself loose while a golden song spread through Rose. The Wolf howled for her. It howled for Rose, the Doctor and for Time itself. It was in her, and around her, stretching throughout the Void ship, sending reverberations throughout the Void. The ship itself trembled with this power as it hurled through the Void, almost as if it were caught in some rip current. The ship moved faster and faster, bumping against whatever debris existed in the nothingness, until a rift opened up and the force of it almost crushed the ship as it shot forward, pulled into the energy vortex surrounding the rift. The stress of it was too much for Rose and she lost consciousness. Her final thoughts were of her beloved, her Doctor, and mourning that she would never be able to give him her forever.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Big thank you to the talented Callistawolf for beta duty!

The Doctor paced around the console of his TARDIS, now floating in the vortex, whilst his mind processed all that had happened. His emotions were jumbled and he was teetering on an emotional cusp of utter rage, despair and sorrow. He'd left the Corsair to deal with his Void-deranged family and he felt slightly guilty for what actions he anticipated the Corsair would take. He'd always run and left the mess for others to clean up, but that had never included the Corsair. He owed a great debt to his friend.

He couldn't dismiss thoughts of his Gallifreyan wife, Am. She was dead and he'd watched her die, disintegrate into nothingness, everything she was, lost. Her death would haunt him for the rest of his lives. He gripped his hair and pulled on it as he paced back and forth, feeling out of control. Sorrow and guilt for what had happened to her and his family were followed by a cold fury.

This was beyond the Oncoming Storm. He was fire, ice and rage, a firestorm of emotion and there was only one person who could stop him, and she wasn't there. Time Lords didn't form bonds like he had with Rose, so there was no comparison to what he was experiencing. It was sharp, like a dagger of ice to his hearts. His bond mate, his confidant and lover, was not there to comfort him, ground him and keep him from not just jumping into the abyss, but diving headlong into it. He shoved aside his sorrow and guilt over what his family had become and focused on Rose, his Uncommon Rose. They had taken her and tossed her into the Howling without another thought. The temper that had been buried under his shock and concern for Earth and Gallifrey flared and burned hotter than a supernova. It consumed him.

He would not lose her. She was his and he was hers and the universe could go to hell. He began searching out any rifts into the Void, not thinking beyond hurling himself into that dark nothingness to find her. The more he thought of Rose in a possibly compromised Void ship, of what exposure to the Void would do to her, the more desperate he became. He would not allow the Void to have her, would not lose the person she was. He was a wild thing as his mind raced through the possibilities. He slammed switches, cursed and soniced the console, raging at his TARDIS to help him. He worked for hours and was nearing exhaustion brought on by all he had endured and the emotions that were ripping him apart. He was on the edge of sanity, ready to take unthinkable actions when a familiar holographic image appeared.

He was speechless as he stared at an image of Rose, dressed in her customary jeans, blue lace top and tight black leather jacket and smiling at him with that adorable tongue teasing grin. After a moment, the image began to speak. "Hello Doctor! This is safety protocol Four Apple Alpha," she said with cheek. "If you're seein' this, then the TARDIS has detected that you are unfit to operate and navigate her and I'm not there to stop you from bein' a clueless git."

"Rose," he said in a broken voice and took a step forward, reaching out toward her image.

Her smile fell and a look of concern fell across her face. "I'm sorry, Doctor, but this message means you're a danger to yourself, the TARDIS and others. I don't know what happened, or why I'm not there with you but, you have to stop and rest and that doesn't mean later, it means now."

"No!" he shouted, angry again and glared at the time rotor. "I won't! You know we have to find her!"

Holographic Rose nervously tucked a piece of hair behind her ear and crossed her arms. "Now, I'm sure right about now you're gettin' all shouty with the TARDIS, complainin' and whingin' 'bout how you're all right, but Doctor, you're not, so stop it."

He looked at her image and tears pricked at his reddened, tired eyes. "You don't understand. I have to find you! I lost you," he said, tears running down his face. "I promised I'd keep you safe and that'd I'd always come for you."

"Listen to the TARDIS. Whatever is goin' on, you're no good like this. I couldn't bear for anything to happen to you, especially if this is about me. Please, I love you."

That almost broke him, especially with the pleading and concerned look on her face, a reminder of the last time he'd seen her. "I'm sorry, but I can't. I'm going to find you Rose. I promise."

With that statement, he walked up to the console and went to work on his next plan which involved doing things Rose would not approve of.

Holographic Rose sighed and shook her head sadly. "You leave us no choice." Her image disappeared. The Doctor barely noticed, he was so busy trying to force the TARDIS to his will. Just as he was pounding on one circuit, a well timed and well placed shock shot him across the console room, knocking him unconscious.

When the Doctor opened his eyes, he found himself not on his TARDIS, but in the President's lounge on Gallifrey. He shot up and looked around, breathing hard.

"Settle down, old friend," the Corsair said as he sipped a goblet of Gallifreyan wine. He was sitting on an ornate blue cushioned chair with his boot clad feet resting casually on an equally decorative glass table. He grinned at the Doctor, his blue eyes sparkling, and held up his glass in a toast before sipping it and sighing. "Damn, I miss this. At least I do until one of those pompous parasites starts spouting off about rules and laws!"

The Doctor nodded once, sat up, and looked around the room. One wall and the doomed roof were nothing but windows overlooking the grand city below. Well, perhaps it was better to describe it as the once-grand city. Much of it was now destroyed. He stood up, walked closer to the windows, and looked out across the crumbled remains. Many buildings were collapsed or partially so. Some were only charred remains and it looked like a giant clawed hand had reached down and scraped its way across the city. The despair and misery were almost tangible, as if they very air was thick with it. He rubbed a hand across his tired eyes and then dragged it through his already disarrayed hair. His suit was wrinkled and torn and he was, in a word, a mess.

He turned away from the devastation to look around the room. It was a luxurious space, with a glossy black gray stone floor. The walls were a soft white and decorated with paintings, tapestries and one wall was floor-to-ceiling books. The room was dotted with chairs, pillows, and settees all in shades of blue, white and gray. The windows and cathedral-like domed glass ceiling gave the space a light and airy feel. The Doctor, however, was feeling anything but light, and it showed.

Double doors opened and President Romana entered, dressed in her elaborate Presidential robes, her silver hair styled immaculately and her violet eyes immediately lighting on the Doctor. Castellan Andred was at her side, his face impassive and revealing nothing.

"Doctor," Romana acknowledged and she inclined her head slightly.

The Doctor, rumpled, unshaven and looking as if he had emerged from a battle, stood up straight and inclined his own head. "Madame President. It's good to see you, although…" he said and paused as he tugged nervously on his ear. "I'm not quite sure why I'm here or how…"

"How is not important," Romana cut him off. "You are here because this is where you needed to be; because of the events on Earth and because of a matter of the greatest importance. The universe is destabilizing as a result of certain activities of those with less than pure intensions."

"What do you mean?" the Doctor asked gruffly, now fully focused on the here and now.

"There was an incident in the Koloz nebula. From what our intelligence has ascertained, a small band of the Recondite were probing a small anomaly in that sector." She paused for impact. The Corsair remained lounging nearby, seemingly not surprised by any of this. He sipped his wine and winked at her.

She continued, ignoring him. "They located an instability, an area where the universal boundary was susceptible to tearing. It appears they were no longer capable of logical thinking, nor did they take into account the ramifications of manipulating this weakened area."

"Are you telling me that they punched a hole into the Void?" the Doctor asked, feeling sickened by this, but also hopeful he could use this to save Rose.

"The Recondite might have been unbalanced and deranged, but they succeeded in creating what they thought was a stable breech. And through this breech, they extracted a Void ship. I believe you know the contents of that vessel," Romana continued, now staring at him as if trying to drill a hole into his thoughts.

The Doctor swallowed hard. "Yes," he answered, and he began pacing, his long gray coat flaring around his legs. He stopped and turned to her. "It was the lost members of my House. It was one of the ships the council chose to dismiss as lost, casualties of war," he recited bitterly.

Romana arched a delicate and manicured brow at him. "There is record of such an edict being passed by the Council and the reasoning behind it is sound."

"Then, there is also a record of my objection and vehement protest of abandoning our people to the Void," the Doctor reminded her, his eyes darkening with anger.

Romana nodded once. "The point remains that these individuals were freed without consideration or care for their precarious mental and physical state, thus unleashing…"

"A bunch of mad as hatters Time Lords bent on wreaking havoc across the universe," the Corsair finally added, slamming his goblet down on the table, shattering it. He stood up, his own temper beginning to show. "This wasn't the Doctor's fault, so don't you go layin' this on him."

Romana was not amused and responded in kind. "Neither I nor the council is accusing the Doctor of anything…yet. The point remains, these were members of his House. He remains head of his House and thus, responsibility falls to him for their actions as well as their welfare."

"Reglonian Pootosh!" the Corsair cursed loudly as the Doctor seethed nearby. "And Rassilon's bollux it's his responsibility! It was the bloody High Council that refused his request to go after them! They abandoned our own people, left them to rot out in that Hell! You know this Romana, and don't pretend otherwise. The Council can damn well take the blame on this one and don't think I'm the only one that thinks this. In fact, you can tell those sniveling bureaucrats that they should all be kissing the Doctor's damn fine arse for training the Time Lords assisting him on Earth to do more than write reports. He taught them to think outside of the box and be thankful for it. They're the ones that stopped this thing before the Universe fell into a complete quantum cluster farax!"

The Doctor had heard enough. "What more do you want me to do, Romana? Haven't the Council done enough already? I'm banished, I have no House to speak of, I've been consecrated into duty overseeing a primitive planet none of the Council dare to set foot on and I've lost…." He paused and swallowed hard again, his eyes filled with pain and emotion. "I've lost more than you can conceive, suffered more pain than you or that bunch of stuffy, bureaucrats could ever understand."

Romana's face softened. "I'm sorry, Doctor. Lady Stephanoupkoa advised us of the events on Earth as well as provided us with technical specifications for the technology used to open and maintain the rift over the city that had been procured from the Recondite. I also am aware of what you endured and the necessary actions you took, despite your loss. I truly am sorry about Rose and Am."

"Don't!" the Doctor snapped at her. "Don't you dare. I may have lost Am, but I will not lose Rose!"

Romana looked at him impassively, not responding, until the Castellan cleared his throat.

"Forgive me, Madame President, but there remains the matter of the unstable and mentally deficient assailants who attacked not only Gallifrey, but Earth as well. We still need to address this issue. The Council will demand action. The fact remains that these were members of the Doctor's House and as head of his House, the Council will want his input as to their disposition."

"Disposition!" the Corsair barked out. "Are you faraxing kidding me! You know what they did. How many Gallifreyan and Humans lives were lost? They altered the course of Earth history with their delusional plans! The humans aren't stupid. They'll know it was our people. This is a cluster bollux if I've ever seen one. We're not talking about a simple case of bein' one oar short, these folks were psychotic, as in 'let's blow up the universe for kicks and giggles!'"

"Corsair!" the Doctor warned.

The Corsair looked at the Doctor in a manner he hadn't since the war. "They murdered Lord Longinquus, Am, and countless others and what they did to Rose was beyond terrible. You know, Doctor, you were there and saw them. They were sick and dying… slowly. When they showed up on Earth, those weren't your family, they weren't even alive. Your family died in the Void. These were just phantoms, evil incarnate set to destroy and kill anything and everyone."

The Doctor stared hard at the Corsair and the Corsair looked back at him with an equally hard look. The Corsair had sorted them in the same way the Doctor would have but in doing so, it would have beleaguered his already heavy conscious.

Romana was silent and watched the two Time Lords glare at one another. It was the Castellan who broke the silence. "Corsair, I need you to confirm that the Doctor's…"

"Don't!" the Doctor snapped.

The Castellan cleared his throat. "That the Time Lords who emerged from that Void ship are no longer a threat and their remains are properly disposed of."

The Corsair looked over at him, not a hint of his normal amusement and joviality on his face. "They're sorted, Castellan, and that's all you need to know."

The Doctor shoved his hands in his pockets and swallowed the grief and guilt he felt at the Corsair's pronouncement. He had to focus on Rose. "Romana, I take it you intercepted my TARDIS and brought me here to answer for this and it has been. Rose needs me. I have to leave."

"Doctor, neither I nor the Council will permit you to proceed on the course of action you were taking before you were most fortunately interrupted."

"Romana, I…." he began to say before he suddenly fell to his knees grasping at his head.

"Doctor?" the Corsair shouted and dropped to his knees next to him. He laid a hand on the Doctor's shoulder and immediately fell backward himself. "Bloody hell, but that was strong!" He looked up at Romana. "If I were to guess, our Flower is not as lost as you think and she's screaming for her Doctor."

"That is impossible," Romana stated in a strong and no nonsense tone.

When the Doctor looked up at her, gold flecks glinted in his eyes. "She is my Impossible Rose and she needs me." He stood up, renewed and refreshed, filled with a new determination. "I can find her, Romana"

The Corsair sat back and smiled at his old friend's determination. This was getting interesting, and the Corsair decided it might be fun to stick around and see how all this played out.

"Doctor, I can't allow you to further damage the universal boundaries," Romana stated in her best commanding, Presidential tone.

"I don't need to. I can use the existing tear the Recondite made," the Doctor stated confidently.

"That tear is causing enough problems. It has to be sealed," she reminded him.

"It doesn't have to be large and don't try and tell me you don't have people working on stabilizing it. You've already sealed the rift over Gallifrey and the one I'm sure was forming over Earth," the Doctor responded, his mind already forming a plan.

"The Koloz rift is different. It's the epicenter from which the other weaker rifts formed. It's dangerous and must be sealed before any other fractures form. The universe is in peril, much damage has been done, and our people are spread thin repairing that damage," Romana said as she watched the Doctor's reaction. She didn't want to incarcerate him but she had a duty to Gallifrey and the universe.

The Doctor scowled in response and began pacing like a caged animal. Rose had tapped into Bad Wolf and called to him. His clever Rose had found a way to stay safe, but she needed him. He'd promised her he would always come for her and he was going to keep that promise.

The Castellan could see things quickly getting out of hand. The Doctor was a wild card, a rebel, and a general pain in the arse, but he owed him a great debt. He wouldn't have his wife, Leela, without the interfering delinquent. "Madame President, perhaps there is another alternative. Once the rift is stabilized, you could assign someone to maintain that stability while the Doctor retrieves his Rose."

Romana didn't look happy with this suggestion. "Castellan, you well know that I cannot spare anyone for such a task, and especially not when it should be sealed and the matter resolved."

The Doctor looked ready to rain Oncoming Storm on all of Gallifrey if he had to. The Corsair sat up and looked at Romana as a thought occurred to him.

Romana seemed to share his thought. "Unless, of course, a completely unsanctioned and renegade Time Lord were to show up and take on that responsibility. Not that I would ever admit to any knowledge of such an irresponsible and reckless plan."

The Corsair grinned brightly. "Well now, good thing this old scalawag here has friends in low places!" he announced and hopped up. The Doctor looked at him, a smile just beginning to quirk. The Corsair slapped him hard on the back. "Come on, Doctor, we've got some misbehavin' to do!"

"Doctor," Romana said, stopping him as he was leaving.

The Doctor and turned and looked at Romana. "I won't allow any damage to be done. I'll return with Rose or not at all," he promised with a determined look.

Romana smiled and nodded. "Yes. Just know that everything has its price." Romana then telepathically showed him the price this would cost. He scowled and turned to leave, muttering about how maybe it was better to be swallowed by the Void.

The Castellan arched a brow at her. "He'll be back, and he will do as I asked. Gallifrey needs him and what he can provide," Romana assured him.

"With all due respect, are you sure?" the Castellan asked.

Romana looked at him. "Positive."

Rose awakened and found herself slumped over in the pilot chair of the Void ship. There were lights glowing red on the control panel. She sat up and groaned, feeling like she'd been tossed all over the Vortex and bounced off several planets. As she became more aware of her surroundings, one thing became clear, the malevolent whispering and feeling of being watched was gone. In fact, she felt lighter and less weighed down as if she wasn't….

She could barely dare to think it. Her memory of what had happened was spotty. She remembered being tossed into the Void ship, wandering around, falling into despair, finding her way to the navigation room and then…Oh. Something dark and sinister had tried to gain entrance, to weasel its way into her mind but then there was a light and screaming. She vaguely recalled calling out to her Doctor and swore she heard the barest whisper in her mind of his voice and then it all went black. This had Bad Wolf written all over it.

She slowly stood up and took a step. Something in the back of her mind, a comforting voice, was encouraging her on. Rose had a hunch things were not as grim as they had been. She walked down the seemingly endless corridors until she reached the entrance. She laid her hand on the control panel and shut her eyes hoping that what she believed was true.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Rose learns where her Void Ship landed. Although I have not added the character who shows up at the end of this chapter to the story info, I will next chapter and especially since next chapter he features pretty prominently.
> 
> Thanks again to callistawolf for beta duties. She made this so much better. I did rework this quite a bit after she looked at it so all errors are mine.

Rose didn't know what she would find outside of the Void ship. She didn't even know how to open it and questioned: if the mad Time Lords couldn't navigate out of the Void and open their own ship, how could she? Some inner voice prodded her on, as if to say they weren't her. Time Lords lacked her intuitive nature. They gave up whereas Rose clung to her hope and determination to not only survive, but to live and return home. With that thought, Rose calmed her mind and once again reached for that special place within her that harbored that small bit of Time and worked on opening the door. She had no awareness of how much time had elapsed, but by the time she heard the ever present mechanical hum of the ship change, her stomach was growling.

Fresh air greeted her, and not just any air. It held all the scents of London as it breezed into the ship. Rose was never happier to smell the scent of the city. She stood before the open door and looked out at an untamed and overgrown area. It was night out and quiet, with only the sound of a train in the distance and a few cars driving nearby. If she hadn't already heard the sounds of the city, she might have assumed she was in the woods. She pushed aside the bushes blocking her exit and stepped out and onto the dew covered grass. Cautiously, she made her way through the park until she could see where she was. It was London, but not in the London she'd just left.

The buildings were wrong. They weren't modern enough. There was the scent of standard combustion engines and pollution that would not be found on her Doctor's Earth. A whole new set of worries began to whirl through her mind. What if she'd traveled in time? What if this was London before the Time Lords interfered? She had to find out the date. Cautiously Rose walked out of the park and onto a street until she found a bin and pulled out an old newspaper.

"Shit," she muttered. It was two days after the Ambassador's visit. That meant this was not the Earth she had been living on. She thought back again to how she'd arrived here. Flashes of the darkness of the Void, feelings of terror, loneliness and loss shook through her along with a warmth and golden light. She had clung to it and screamed for the Doctor. There had been a small tug and whisper in her mind as if he heard her and then everything went black. Bad Wolf had brought her into this world from the Void, but why this parallel Earth? Why not take her back to her Doctor? How would she get back to him? The emptiness in her mind and the loss of her Doctor struck deep inside of her. Her fingernails bit into her palms as she clenched her fists and tried not to panic.

First things first. She had to figure out if this was a universe she recognized from her travels. It wasn't like she hadn't visited dozens of parallel worlds before landing in her new Doctor's world and vividly recalled each trip. Once she knew where she was, she could then figure out a way back to her Doctor. Of course, there was one hitch, not all parallel Earth's were friendly. She could face anything from a world dominated by bird people, a mad dictator ruling a totalitarian society, cannibalistic humans, or anything in between, and this time she was on her own with no dimension cannon to whisk her away. If she was on a hostile world, that could add a whole new level of worries above and beyond trying to get back to her Doctor.

She gazed up at the sky. There were no zeppelins so it wasn't Pete's World. She didn't know if she was happy or sad about that fact. She needed to proceed with caution. As she looked around, she didn't see anything or one that looked hostile. It was always a good thing when she could stand out in the open without having something try and kill or eat her. Memories of an Earth where she was hunted by giant rats made her shiver. She did not care to repeat that experience. Still, caution would be wise and she needed to assess her assets. Rose reached into her bigger on the inside pockets, happy that she had filled them before the Ambassadorial tour. She pulled out a psychic credit card and hoped that it would work here. She also found a dodgy sonic screwdriver that the Doctor had shoved off on her when it had malfunctioned on one of their side trips to Earth. There was also some alien currency, a tool kit she'd picked up on a slightly notorious market in the Hassk quadrant that had some rather unusual features, her mobile, which had some special apps, spare earrings, a protein bar, ball bearings, bits and bobs of TARDIS parts, a magnifying glass, mints, silver leaves from Gallifrey and miscellaneous bric-a-brac.

The dawning sun began to peek through the cloudy morning sky, spreading muted golden and pink rays over the city. Rose watched nervously as the city awakened and the streets began to fill with people. They all looked normal enough but normal was a relative description in Rose's experience. Thankfully, the Void ship had landed amidst a wooded and brush filled area, and would be hidden from view from anyone who happened to wander into the park. Rose knew she wasn't getting anywhere standing here, anxiously looking out at the street. She needed to venture forth and explore.

A slight smile lit her face. Rose Tyler was never one to turn away from an adventure. She stepped out of the park and walked down the street until she came to a coffee shop. The scent of freshly brewed coffee made her stomach growl. She had no idea how long it had been since she had been lost in the Void, but if her stomach was any indication, it was at least twenty four standard Earth hours. She wiped her hands nervously on her jeans and watched a stream of people enter the coffee shop. Eventually, hunger won out over caution and she entered. It was small, but cozy, with tables lining one side of the shop. She ordered a large white mocha latte and two pastries. Luckily, the credit card worked and Rose soon sat down at a table, sipping the latte and devouring her pastries. It was a casual glance at a news article on someone's iPad that gave her the first clue as to where she was. This world had a Prime Minister. Rose felt her heart rate elevate. Could it be she was back in her home universe? She needed to investigate further. She wolfed down what was left of her pastries and latte and was soon on her way to confirm her suspicions.

There was one very easy way to know for certain. She hit up a cash point and smiled at the familiar currency. It had been a long, long time since she carried pound notes like these. There was no particular hurry, so she took her time and browsed a few shops on the way taking in the current fashions. It felt odd looking at clothing like this. She hadn't shopped in what felt like years. On Pete's world, she had been so focused on Torchwood and the dimension cannon that she hadn't spared a thought toward shopping for pleasure. Not that she never wanted to buy clothes or groceries, only that it was done on a schedule, as a matter of course and a necessity. Even with her new Doctor, she hadn't done too much perusing at alien markets. He didn't like it and didn't want her wandering too far from him.

She continued walking, lost in thought. This was the first time since she'd met her new Doctor that she'd spent time doing anything like this. Was this even who she was anymore? That thought then led to her thinking about a comment her mum had made so many years ago, about Rose being a stranger wandering an alien market and not even human anymore. Rose tugged at the zipper on her coat and wondered if her mother had been unknowingly predicting the future, except, her prediction happened a lot sooner. Was she that alien her mother had suggested? Who was she now, anyway? The Doctor said she wasn't entirely human. Maybe that was what was bothering her more than anything, and why she was so torn up about not fitting in anywhere. These thoughts then led to her thinking about her Doctor and wondering how he was and if he missed her as much as she missed him. Honking horns and screeching breaks jerked her out of her internal misery. She'd been so lost in thought, she'd almost been run over crossing the street.

She quickly escaped the raging motorists, quietly chastising herself. She had to pull it together. If she'd been injured and taken to a hospital, it would have been very bad. Who knows what they would have found out and if they found out she wasn't entirely human. Torchwood could still be around. She needed to remember until she proved otherwise, that this world was dangerous. Rose knew she needed to shove aside introspection and inner conflict for another day. The most important thing right now was figuring out if this was her original world and how dangerous it was for her. Once that was done, she could mire herself in anguish and her own failings.

She reached the closest library, and ran up the steps and through the double doors. It was busy, but not crowded. She wound her way through the various rooms, inhaling the scent of books, which calmed her slightly. It made her think of both her Doctor's massive libraries. The library had been one of her favorite TARDIS rooms. She made her way over to bank of computers and settled in front of one to begin looking for any evidence this was her Earth prime. It didn't take long. There was an article on the events of Canary Wharf. Still being reluctant to admit it, she read on and found a list of the victims of the Cybermen and Dalek conflict. Her hands shook as she scrolled down and saw her and her mum's names. There it was, staring her in the face. She read on, looking up more details on herself, as if to try and disprove this still wasn't her Earth. Everything matched. A patron tapped her on the shoulder, reminding her that she was beyond her allotted time. She erased the search history and left, almost in a daze.

She was home, if this could still be considered home for her. Somehow, it didn't feel like it anymore. Rose stopped and just looked around her, at the bustling streets and cars zipping by. How much time in Pete's world had she spent wishing to be just where she was right then? She sighed. There were people here who knew her, people she could contact. She knew that Mickey had stayed in this world, and then there was Jack. Both would more than likely help her, but then she would have to tell them the truth. Rose swallowed hard. She would have to tell them that she sent a clone in her place and abandoned her family and…him. Her whole body tensed and she shoved her hands in her pockets and stared blankly ahead of her. She couldn't do it. She couldn't deal with her friends condemning looks or interrogation. Besides, this wasn't her world anymore. It may have been her goal once upon a time in another lifetime to return here, but that was before she found her new Doctor and a new universe to call home.

Facing old friends and confessing her choices was not something she was prepared to do unless she had no other choice. She looked around one more time. This was her past and it was time to face it. She hailed a cab and asked to be taken to Canary Wharf. During the trip there, she couldn't help thinking about her old life on this Earth, with her first Doctor as compared to her new life. So much had changed, her especially. Her emotions welled up inside of her as she thought about her new Doctor and she fingered the bonding pendant he had given her. They were supposed to be forever but then she had once promised forever to her other Doctor as well. Maybe she was doomed to love and lose that love for the rest of her life. Tears welled up and she rubbed at her eyes. No. She wasn't going to dwell on the past. She had to stay focused on the here and now and that meant dealing with the card she had been dealt and making the best of it. Her life was not on this Earth. As the cab pulled up to the Canary Wharf monument, she paused. This was it. She swallowed hard, paid her fare and stepped out of the cab.

The monument was massive and there were many people milling around paying their respects to those lives lost during that tragic event. She walked up to the shiny, dark gray stone wall engraved with names. Even after all this time, people still left flowers and mementos for their lost loved ones. Rose took her time, as memories of that day and tumultuous emotions rolled through her in waves. Her fingers gently touched the engraved names, and she felt tears beginning to prick at her eyes at the thought of all these lives cut short. Eventually, she reached her and her mum's names. To her shock, there were bunches of tiny delicate pink and yellow roses on the ground and attached to the wall next to her name. Her hand came up to her mouth. They were Kallashian Roses from the planet Kallas. Rose remembered the Doctor taking her there after New Earth and how shrines were built anywhere the roses grew as they were considered sacred. They couldn't possibly be here unless… There was only one person who would do this, who had access to those flowers and had the ability to bring them here.

It was a powerful moment for her, and one that drove home exactly who she had left behind. After she had gathered herself, Rose left to return to the park where the Void ship was tucked away in the foliage. She needed the long walk to absorb the significance of what she'd seen at the monument. She stopped for fish and chips along the way. This was her home universe, and the Doctor was still visiting Earth, could be there right now. What would she say to him if she ran into him? Then, she mentally slapped herself. The odds were she'd never see him. He was the one who was always running and looking for adventure. She was just another person walking down the street on an ordinary day. There wasn't even an alien in sight.

When she returned to the park, there still weren't many people around. She sat on a bench near where the ship was tucked away amongst the greenery and pondered what to do next. She couldn't just stay here, and there was no obvious way back to her Doctor yet. Once again, she focused on the last harsh words they had hurled at one another before his family arrived to torment and tear them apart. Tears glistened on her face as regret became a tangible ache, cutting through her. Despite their disagreements, their last telepathic message to each other had been love and how much they loved each other. He had said he'd find her, but Rose was feeling unsure that would happen. What if the psychotic Time Lords regenerated him? Would he still feel the same way, still want her? What if he decided she was more trouble than she was worth? His family was broken, but perhaps they could be helped. What if the Time Lord Council insisted he let her go? What if they'd killed him permanently?

That last thought almost broke her, and she burst into wracking sobs. She curled up on the bench as misery overwhelmed her. Rose knew this was wasted time. She should be making plans for what she was going to do and how she was going to survive here. It had been a long day, or few days, and Rose was knackered and emotionally overwrought. She lay on the bench in the waning light and felt exhaustion claim her.

Not long after Rose fell asleep, the wind kicked up and a wheezing and whooshing sound could be heard in a nearby meadow. A beloved blue box that Rose knew all too well appeared. If she had not been so exhausted and emotionally drained, she might have awakened with heart pumping joy, happy that her Doctor had found her. The door creaked open and the Doctor emerged except it wasn't the Doctor she would have expected.

The Doctor practically tumbled out of the TARDIS, limbs all askew in his haste to investigate some peculiar energy signatures in the area. He had been in the midst of researching his curious new companion's time line when the cloister bells began chiming and the TARDIS started sparking. He'd barely escaped a landing which very well could have imploded all of time and space. If he'd had his newest companion with him, he'd have been doing his best to impress her with how he stopped the universe from going boom with his mad skills. Much to his annoyance, she was making him wait until the next day. Well, the next day in her linear life. For the Doctor, the next day could be thirty seconds away. Thus, he had been focused on learning more about Clara Oswald. At least, he had been, until his TARDIS insisted he investigate this park.

He dusted off his aubergine frock coat and brandished his sonic with flair, the green tip glowing in the darkened park. "All right, whatever you are, show yourself," he said softly, his light green eyes alight with excitement at a new mystery to solve. He continued spinning around in a circle, the whir of his sonic mixed with the rustle of leaves as some nocturnal animal scampered away and a lone owl let out a deep and lonely whoooo. The Doctor paused and examined his sonic, his brown hair flopping carelessly across his face.

He smacked the sonic on the palm of his hand and looked out at some shrubbery nearby. "No, not possible." He walked toward the bushes and pushed his way through, his coat snagging so that he had to yank it away, causing himself to fall out of the bushes. He shoved his hair off his very prominent brow and looked up. There was a park bench not far away, and he caught a glimpse of blonde hair spilling over the edge. He stood up, straightened his bow tie and marched over to the bench. It didn't take him long to realize who was asleep before him. His breath caught and his respiratory bypass almost activated at the shock of seeing her there.

His sonic fell to the ground as memories long buried surfaced: a pink and yellow girl who saved him more times than she knew, a golden goddess who ate impossible for breakfast to save him and the universe; werewolves, a black hole, a missed trip to Elvis; a terrible white wall, sacrifice and Daleks. Finally, memories of a lonely beach and a gift so great, it ripped him apart and nearly drove him mad. Yet, here she was, asleep on this bench.

All he could do was whisper her name, "Rose."


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Big hugs to my beta, Callistawolf who always keeps me grammar straight and makes really fantastic suggestions. Also more hugs to Bittie752 who spotted me on Eleven characterization. Bittie's Eleven fics are just spot on and she is awesome!

Rose dreamt that night. She dreamt of the first time she met the Doctor in the basement of Henriks, of their travels together, her loss of him, Pete’s World, her mum and Tony and finally of her new Doctor and Gallifrey. She was walking with her new Doctor across a field of crimson colored grass towards majestic purple mountains dotted with silver leafed trees, sparkling orange in the twin suns of Gallifrey. Their hands were joined and they were happy. They also weren’t alone, but it wasn’t other stuffy Time Lords with them. She didn’t know who the people were, only that they were warm and friendly and not a threat. Suddenly, a gaping and ominous crack opened before them, darkness slithered out in black tendrils which slid their icy grip around Rose, yanking her toward the terrifying depths within. She screamed, and the Doctor held onto her, trying to tug her back to him, his eyes frightened but determined. The other people seemed to change into her other Doctors, first the leather clad Time Lord, and then her brown pinstriped Doctor calling out to her before fading away.

"Doctor!" she screamed, as the chill from the void enveloped her and she could feel it trying to consume her essence.

"I’m not going to lose you!" her new Doctor shouted back.

Visions of Canary Wharf, a lever that didn’t work and a heart wrenching separation filled her with determination. She was not letting go this time. The Void had other plans, however, and soon both she and the Doctor were being dragged into the abyss. Everything twisted and contorted until her Doctor changed into her first Doctor and everything faded into an oppressive darkness, pressing on her with only one tiny golden light seemingly out of her grasp singing to her. She kept trying to reach for it, but it seemed to flit away almost as if it wanted her to chase it, until it hovered between two shadowy figures, both with their arms reaching out to her. Without warning, the light shot forward straight into her chest and a searing pain burned through her. A voice whispered to her, “You promised me forever."

Rose woke up with a jolt, breathing hard, her hand reaching for her chest and the pendent the Doctor had given her, which felt warm to the touch. She was trembling and perspiring. She blinked blearily, disoriented, and then remembered where she was and winced as she stiffly sat up on the hard bench.

"There you are!" a voice called out joyfully, and a young gangly man practically pranced up to her.

Rose looked up and stared in shock. Before her, dressed in an aubergine frock coat, light gray dress shirt and bow tie was the Doctor, but it wasn’t her Doctor. She had never seen this him before, and yet she knew it was him. She gazed into a face that was so different, and yet still the same. She took a moment to take him in, his prominent chin, broad forehead and floppy brown hair. He looked younger than she’d ever seen him, and yet so much older at the same time.

"Doctor," she said in disbelief.

"Hello!" he said cheerily, and waved at her. “Rose Tyler, it has been…a very long time." Then his brow furrowed. “Wait! How did you know it was me?"

Rose grinned brightly at him, the shock beginning to wear off, and now she felt hope and a little happy flutter in her stomach instead. “I’d know you anywhere, any when, and with any face."

His eyes then focused on the pendent barely visible around her neck. His moods had always been mercurial, but now appeared to be even more so. A touch of the Oncoming Storm darkened his eyes, and he whipped out his sonic and aimed it at her.

"You cannot be here, like this. It’s just…"

"Impossible?" she answered. “Doctor, I don’t think impossible means what you think it means. Has impossible ever stopped me before?"

The glow of his sonic was inches from her face, but Rose did not flinch. She would not be afraid of the Doctor. No matter what, she could never believe he would harm her. He seemed to make a decision and backed up a couple of steps, pocketing his sonic.

"You’re older," he finally pronounced in that rude way only he could. “And there’s a Void ship in the shrubbery, yet I don’t detect any universal rips or holes. He started to pace and then whipped around, his coat flaring dramatically around him and he pointed at her.

"You should be in a parallel world with other me, doing happy, domestic, couple-y things," he pronounced and waved his hand dramatically in the air. “Why are you here?"

Rose couldn’t help the giggle that escaped her. Maybe it was having been through so much, or maybe it was watching this him, all gangly and outraged but still with a swishy coat, trying to interrogate her. He always could make her smile. It seemed like forever since she smiled last and for all she knew she could have been in the Void for far longer than she thought. When she recovered and looked up at him and saw a concerned look on his face, she calmed and remembered exactly what a mess she was in. Now he was here, and she wasn’t sure how she felt about seeing him again. Part of her was happy, but another part was confused and worried. She had bonded to another Doctor, and yet here was this Doctor who didn’t know all that had happened to her or about the choice she had made.

"It’s complicated," she answered, her voice trembling a bit as she toyed with the zipper on her jacket. “More complicated than you could ever imagine."

He walked over and plopped down on the bench next to her and leaned in close.

"Oh, I don’t know," he said with a smile, pulling out his sonic and tossing it in the air catching it one handed. “I rather enjoy complicated. Complicated is not dull or boring."

"Complicated takes time to explain," she answered softly.

"Good thing I have time, being a Time Lord and all, and why haven’t you said anything about what I look like?" he asked with a twinkle in his eyes.

She smiled and looked him over again and reached over, her fingers lightly grazing his bow tie. “It’s nice. Like the bow tie. It suits you."

"And?" he asked, a slight smile on his face.

Rose grinned in response. “Different."

"Good different or bad different?"

"Just different," she said, still smiling and remembering the last time they had this conversation. Then it occurred to her they were alone. “You’re alone?"

He stared into her eyes and he reached over, his fingers tugging the pendent up, almost caressing it and building an intimacy between them. His gaze traveled down to the silver medallion, which was cut through the middle with stones embedded in a Gallifreyan design. He ignored her question.

"Other me didn’t have this."

Rose’s face fell. She was going to have to tell him the truth, but she wasn’t ready just yet. She couldn’t help but think of the flowers on the monument she’d seen the previous day and with no companion around, she worried about him and what his feelings were for her. She didn’t even know what her feelings were for him. A treacherous voice within her whispered that she could stay with him, leaving her problems behind and start fresh with no threat of conspiring, evil Time Lords hanging over her. Being close to him like this stirred those thoughts, along with something inside of her she thought she’d put to rest. There was also guilt at having to confess she’d stayed with her new Doctor. And then there was her Doctor in the other universe. How could she even think of leaving him? That sly little voice reminded her that she once had thought the same about this Doctor. This Doctor hadn’t forgotten about her, and that was very clear. She cared for him but, and that was a big but, she was in love with her other Doctor. She didn’t want to break this Doctor’s hearts with the truth. He’d endured enough already.

"There are flowers at the Canary Wharf monument by my name. I didn’t think you did that sort of thing," she finally said, trying to divert his attention and delay having to tell him the truth.

The Doctor pulled his hand back and looked off in the distance as a warbler chirped a greeting to the rising sun. “I have lost so much." He turned to her, a tired look on his face.

Rose felt her breath catch. She might be bonded to a parallel version of this Doctor, but she still had a telepathic connection to him and could feel a mixture of pain, loss, curiosity, wonder and joy. She focused on her tenuous connection to him and sent feelings of comfort. When he felt that, he jumped up so fast he almost tripped over himself. He stared at her in wonder.

"How did you… but that’s not possible," he gasped. “I mean, I am certainly brilliant, a screaming genius, but I didn’t do that. You did," he said, pointing at her. “And you can’t do that! I mean, I would have known if you could have initiated… that. I’ve been in your head before and that wasn’t there!" He paused. “You’re different!" he accused, looking at her suspiciously.

"Kind of, yeah. I’m not exactly the same Rose you last saw," she answered mysteriously, and bit her lip as she thought about what to say to him next.

"Well of course you’re not!" he exclaimed and paced in front of her before stopping, spinning, and falling to his knees before her. He laid his hands on either side of her on the bench and leaned in close, gazing at her. He sniffed and rocked back away.

"You smell like the Void, time, and something impossible," he said softly. “You’ve been around, and by around I don’t mean Earth or anything Earth-like. Most definitely, the farthest thing from Earth-like." He paused and his eyes narrowed. “Where and when did you come from?"

Rose looked back at him and then averted her eyes, squeezing them shut and she took a breath before answering. When she looked back at him, her face was a mask of sadness and regret.

"I… that is to say, I’m not the Rose you last saw. She’s locked away in a parallel universe with your meta crisis and my family."

"That doesn’t answer my question. In fact, that’s the opposite of an answer." He looked at her expectantly.

Rose leaned back and ran her hands through her hair. When her gaze returned to him, she reached a decision. “I could murder a cuppa. How ‘bout we take a walk and we can talk over tea?"

He stared at her for a moment and then stood up and held out his hand. Rose smiled and accepted, winding her fingers through his as naturally as when he wore leather or a brown pinstriped suit. They walked to the coffee shop she’d visited the prior morning. The Doctor was as hyperactive as usual, pointing out oddities or stopping abruptly to drag her over to some insignificant item which had caught his attention. It was as if the tense conversation on the bench hadn’t happened. Rose knew better, of course. This was just his way.

When they reached the coffee shop, they ordered tea and a mound of pastries. He still had a sweet tooth and she still had to pay. They settled into a corner table.

"Still a cheap date," she teased as she sipped her tea.

He gazed at her thoughtfully. “Stop trying to distract me. I am the expert at distracting and bewildering, and the master of flummoxing the unflummoxable. So tell me Rose Tyler, how and why are you here? What’s happened to you?"

Rose set her tea cup down and stared at it, the emotions of the past few days welling up inside of her. When she looked at him, it was as if all the heartache on Earth was reflected in her eyes. It took him aback for a moment. He could never imagine her looking like this. She was Rose and Rose must always be happy.

"The Rose you met when you faced the Daleks and saved all those worlds, she wasn’t me."

He tensed. “What do you mean?" he asked in a hard voice.

Rose looked off to the side at all the people streaming in and out as if this was a normal day for them, and it was. That’s when it really hit her. This place, and having coffee in a shop like this, was normal for them, but not her. This was her past. She looked back at him. “The Rose you met, did she tell you about the dimension cannon?"

"Yes, you, she…" He paused. “You used the dimension cannon to travel between Pete’s World to other parallel worlds until you found your home universe, until you found me."

Rose nodded. “Yeah, only I never found you because I stayed in one of those parallel worlds."

It was clear he was becoming angry and was trying to reign in his temper. “You did what! Why? And who was the Rose that I met and left with…"

"She was a clone, my clone. There was no Rose in the universe I was in and…"

"A clone," he said softly. “Your clone and my meta crisis… well, isn’t that spiffy," he snipped and looked at her with accusation touched with hurt.

Tears were glistening in her eyes. She didn’t want to tell him this. “There were Time Lords there."

His face paled and he slumped back, staring at her in disbelief. Then he shot forward across the table, shoving their tea and pastries roughly aside and grabbed her wrist. “There are no Time Lords!" he said in soft deadly voice. “I know because I killed them all, so think carefully before you…"

"Stop it!" she interrupted. “You don’t know everything! I know you like to act like you do, but you don’t. They are there and they controlled everything. They knew when I landed. They captured me and hauled me off to study me. Don’t think for second that it was all nice, either. They tried to dig into my mind, find out who I was," she told him, her voice fading at the end as she remembered waking up strapped to a table.

His grip loosened. “But that’s not possible!"

Rose rolled her eyes. “If I had a quid for every time you said that! Trust me, it’s not only possible, but real. They survived the Time War and decided they needed to control everything as a result. But it was more than that." Rose could see he was wavering between disbelief and fury. Her own emotions were mixed, and she was feeling awash with nerves and her voice trembled slightly as she continued to tell him the rest of her story.

"Ya see, the Lord Protector of Earth was this Time Lord who’d been forced into the job. He was bound to the Earth. They took his TARDIS privileges away. He was bitter, angry, and sad from the Time War. He still is, really. But deep down, he was still a good person."

The Doctor shut his eyes. “Parallel universes and gingerbread houses," he mumbled before looking back at her. He could feel the waves of tension, sadness, and worry rolling off of her.

"Go on," he said softly, even though he was certain he knew what she was going to say.

"He was rough, overbearing, egotistical and a right git," she said with a hint of affection laced into a stew of other emotions roiling through her. “He also cared deep down, even if he tried to deny it."

"Say it!" he demanded, his eyes suddenly hard and piercing as he stared at her.

Tears fell from her eyes. “He was you, brown haired pinstriped you, although he never wears brown."

The Doctor let loose a stream of alien curses Rose couldn’t understand, and his grip on her arm tightened painfully. He glared at the table before slowly turning his gaze on her. This was beyond the Oncoming Storm. Rose had never seen any of her Doctors look like this. There was a barely leashed fury in his eyes. His face looked hard and condemning, and Rose wanted to shift away from him. This was how he must look at Daleks, she thought.

"So you stayed with this false Doctor?" he said in an accusatory manner.

"It’s not like that," she pleaded. “He took my dimension hopper and insisted I tell him everything, except there was all this Time Lord political stuff, and then other renegade Time Lords showed up and he… well, he was very persuasive."

That seemed to make the Doctor even angrier. “Persuasive how?"

Rose blushed and looked down. “He seduced you!" The Doctor accused, almost shaking with rage and he gripped her wrist hard enough to leave a bruise. When she looked up at him, clearly upset and perhaps a little angry, he let go of her arm as if he couldn’t stand the sight of her, stood up and walked back and forth next to the table. Rose let him work through his anger, watching his clenched jaw and hoping he would calm down and see reason. She grabbed her tea, as if it was sanctuary from his fury. Nothing she could say would make this any better. Even if she hadn’t physically manifested a relationship with this Doctor, they had still been together, and she could tell he was feeling betrayed. She half expected him to run and leave her here.

Eventually, he seemed to reach some sort of conclusion and roughly pulled back the chair and sat down, shoving his sonic at his tea, warming it up. When he looked at her, he had calmed down slightly. “There is more to this story and I need to hear it," he said with a sharp edge to his voice. He was clearly perturbed with her, but not so angry as to walk away. He’d made a habit of walking away from Rose Tyler, and it never turned out the way he’d planned. He wasn’t going to make that mistake again. He also wanted to know the rest of the story, and he felt there was far more to this than she had revealed thus far.

"He fell in love with me and made the clone. He was just going to send her back and keep me there, but in the end, he told me the truth and showed me the timeline where you left me in Pete’s World with your metacrisis. He gave me a choice."

"And you stayed because that was such a terrible fate," he spit out, his anger creeping back.

"No! You don’t understand!" she said, her voice getting loud. She quieted down and continued softly. “I’m not… I’m not quite human anymore," she said with such anguish, her voice cracking and tears streaming down her face. It was the first time she’d really admitted it out loud and meant it. “I don’t age like they do. I heal…" She paused and shut her eyes, trying to wish it all down. “I heal quickly and there are other very nonhuman things I can do and I would have been alone. He would have aged and died and I would have been alone."

For the first time in a very long while, the Doctor was speechless. He ran the sonic near her head and pulled back in shock, finally seeing what he had been missing or had been too foolish to look for. Rose was not lying. His heart sank when it all it hit home. Then, another thought occurred to him. She had been manipulated by a very skilled deceiver.

"You could have told me, stayed with me," he said with an almost petulant tone to his voice.

Rose shook her head and looked at him “No, the timelines were clear. If I had, bad things would have happened. It all would have unraveled. Besides, my clone is human. My Mum, she got to have me there. She’ll have a human daughter with a human life." She could see the Doctor’s face shifting from anger to sadness to something like condemnation.

"You don’t know what I gave up, what I sacrificed so everyone would be happy. I just wanted everyone safe and happy," she continued, trying to make him understand.

The Doctor leaned back with a sigh and scrubbed at his face. “And you, what about Rose Tyler? She doesn’t look very happy right now."

"Well, I was, sort of. We might not have been gettin’ along so well lately, but that doesn’t mean we don’t care for one another," she said and stared at her tea. “He wanted to make nice with the Time Lords so they’d revoke our banishment and so we could visit Gallifrey and that meant…."

"What!" the Doctor shouted and he stood up. Everyone in the coffee shop looked at them. The Doctor shoved pastries in his pockets and grabbed Rose’s arm, yanking her along. “Time to leave." Rose stumbled next to him, nodding and smiling at the people who looked ready to call the police. Very quickly, he half dragged her down the sidewalk and back to the park. Once there, he let her go and stormed back and forth in front of her.

When he turned to her, he was once again looking the picture of dark and powerful Time Lord. “Tell me about this Gallifrey!" he demanded.

Rose told him the story of the battle she’d fought with the Doctor. She told him of the Master, the Corsair, Omicrex, the Horde of Travesties, and the corrupt Time Lord council. He winced off and on and then cursed several times. When she finished, he couldn’t even look at her. She wasn’t sure he was looking at anything in particular. After a long pause, he spoke.

"What I wouldn’t give to see that planet one more time," he finally said, staring off into the distance.

Rose walked up to him and pulled the silver leaves from her pocket, and placed them in his hand, curling her hand around his. He opened his hand and stared in wonder and then looked at Rose as if she was some fascinating new species he’d never seen before. “You’ve been there," he said softly, and he looked again down at the leaves as if he couldn’t really believe even with this physical evidence in his hand. He picked one up and licked it and closed his eyes, as if sipping a fine wine. Rose couldn’t help but smile at that action, thinking he was the same man always.

When he looked at her, there was a twinkle in his eyes. “Silver leafed trees, crimson fields and that orange sky that is a colour unlike anywhere else in the universe," he whispered, then he came alive in a very Doctor-y fashion. “And the snootiest, snobbiest, most boring people in the universe! Why, Rose Tyler, did you notice how stodgy those council members were? All those rules and regulations! Positively mundane and humdrum! And no sense of humour at all!" he spouted off excitedly and hopped up onto the bench.

"Look, but don’t touch! Why, they accused me of meddling. Me! I don’t meddle! I… assist. That’s it! I just lend a hand! Me, the assister!"

Rose couldn’t help the giggle that spilled forth. It was the first truly joyous giggle she’d uttered in a long long time. He hopped down and walked over to her. He tipped her chin up.

"Better," he said. “But there’s more, isn’t there. You didn’t just pop over here for tea and a chat, did you?"

Rose nodded and told him about her Doctor’s mad family, the Void and her worries. She burst into tears as she confessed her insecurities and worried she’d mucked up everything and never would have a chance now to make it right. He wrapped her in his arms, embracing her tightly. He tamped down his concern and jealousy as he comforted her. She felt both right and wrong in his arms. He inhaled deeply, smelling the scent of time, the Void and Gallifrey on her. He never thought he’d see her again, much less feel her in his arms. He sensed the bond in her that his parallel self had embedded into her mind and essence. It taunted and tantalized him. He could have had this with her, had a bit of Rose wrapping around him, grounding him and holding back his demons. A part of him resented that it was denied to him. Even though she said it wouldn’t have worked if she stayed, a part of him didn’t believe it. Perhaps, this was another chance for he and Rose to find their forever. He’d lost enough lately and it was time the universe gave something back to him.

Suspicion towards this other Doctor’s motives was at the forefront of his mind. He was sure this imposter had used Rose’s compassion and caring for others to manipulate her into staying with him. He’d used her to save his Gallifrey, a Gallifrey just as corrupt as this Doctor’s own. Perhaps he was still using her, and she was too in love to see it. That stabbed him in the heart, that she was in love with this parallel version of him. She’d loved him once. Not, of course, that he had done anything about it. He’d been a fool, trying to uphold old rules from a dead bureaucratic race, and running from the mortality of those around him. At the time, he’d been afraid and that fear had blinded him to what she would become. He wasn’t blind now and could sense a tempered power within her. As she wept in his arms, he tightened them around her. She was still Rose and he would protect her. Having her in his arms again stirred feelings he thought he’d locked away. It would be so easy to steal her away in his TARDIS.

Just then, the wind kicked up around him, and familiar scent filled the air. A wheezing and ancient sound echoed around him, and he knew what that meant. He held Rose tighter to him. He would not let her go so easily this time.


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Big thank you to Callistawolf for the beta but don't blame her because as always, I tinkered! Hugs to Bittie752 for checking my Eleven characterization. Both these ladies are the best!
> 
> One more chapter after this as things are not completely resolved. Thank you so much for all the insightful and lovely comments!

The Doctor and the Corsair worked relentlessly on stabilizing the universal tear that the Recondite had manipulated to let the Void ship through, and which the Doctor's demented relatives had used to create other universal fractures on Earth, Gallifrey and throughout the universe. Many lives had been lost on Gallifrey. Earth also bore a mark as a result of the actions of the mad Time Lords. The damage and loss of life on Earth would not be remedied by just the destruction of those who perpetrated this terror on the universe. Repairing the damage would require diplomacy and patience. The Doctor thought of this only fleetingly. His focus was on Rose, who had called out to him through their bond. He had felt a powerful jolt as her feelings of fear and desperation slammed into him. He would find her.

The whole time he worked, he felt twinges of regret regarding his disagreements with Rose. He knew he could be an arrogant git, but he was a Time Lord, and it was how he'd been trained. Time Lords were superior. Although, when he started traveling, he had soon learned that might not be true. The Universe was filled with wonders, and even the smallest, most insignificant looking creature could teach a pompous species like his not to be too sure of themselves. Time Lords were evolved, intelligent, and one of the oldest, most advanced species in the universe, but they didn't know everything, even if they professed otherwise. This was a flaw of his species, and a flaw which was impacting his relationship with Rose.

He and Rose were two of a kind. Both were strong willed and stubborn, determined to get their own way. They were also loyal to each other. Lately though, their shared stubbornness mixed with his arrogance had evolved into some hurtful rows between them. At the time, he justified his actions as being the elder and more knowledgeable partner in their relationship. He knew what was best for both of them. His first thought was always that he needed to keep her safe. Now, he could see how horribly that had worked. Memories of her anger and hurt were salt on the wounds he bore for losing her. He really was a git. As he worked, he promised the universe and any force in time and space that was listening that if… no when he found Rose, he would make it up to her. Even, if that meant being less possessive, giving in to her requests occasionally, and sitting down and talking things through.

It wasn't like he didn't talk to her. Of course he did. It was just that he hated talking about humany feelings or domestics. He felt as if he spoke them, it would make him less of a Time Lord. He thought about losing her and felt pain and panic slice through him. He couldn't lose her. He could look back now and remember life before Rose compared to life after, and it left him cold. Rose had brought with her warmth and a zest for life, and seeing the universe anew. She imbibed everything she did with enthusiasm and a certain joyousness. Life without Rose was inconceivable now, and not just because of the bond they shared. The Doctor was not overly romantic, but the truth was, she was a part of him and she kept him focused and calm. Of course, then there was the shagging. Time Lords didn't do that, as a rule. They were taught to repress baser instincts, but he was not a typical Time Lord.

The Doctor had always been one to dive into new experiences, and touch, taste, smell, feel were all part of it. Rose was no ordinary human either. When he was around her, she just punched through all his carefully built up self control. He reacted to it by shouting, hurling arrogant quips or by trying to be impressive in every way possible. Their physical relationship was just as volatile. He never had any doubts that they would always be intimate. Of course, being them, physical wasn't that simple. There was a telepathic component in addition to touch, and that was, in truth, more important than any physical stimulation. He craved the intimacy he could have with her. As he thought about it, he realized that maybe shagging their problems away was not the best solution. It was fun and satisfying, but it didn't solve anything. When he found her, he would make things right.

A hologram of the Corsair appeared on the TARDIS. "Stop your moping and wallowing!" the Corsair chastised him. "You need to focus now. Rose needs you. Now, are you ready?" the Corsair asked as his hologram paced around the console room, the brass buttons on the elaborate blue velvet frock coat he wore glinting in the light.

The Doctor rolled his eyes at the fanciful image of the Corsair, from his frock coat, to the gold earring in his ear, to the tight black trousers and shiny black knee high boots. He turned to stare at the control console and placed a hand on it, seeking out a connection to his TARDIS. He smiled. "Let's go get our Rose back," he murmured and looked up at the Corsair staring at him worriedly.

"This isn't just swooping into some temporal eddy. This is the Void. No one's done this before. Don't get distracted!" the Corsair chastised.

The Doctor stood tall and was as calmer than he'd been since he lost Rose. "I'm going to find her, Corsair. You just keep things steady on this side."

"I'll do my part," he said and looked at his friend as if he'd never see him again. "Just bring her home safe."

The Doctor nodded and the hologram disappeared. He took a moment to focus and then began navigating into the Void. It wasn't unusual for a TARDIS to pass through the Void, but purposely navigating into the Howling was unheard of. There was no Time Vortex in the Void, so this was straight spacial navigation. His ship shuddered and the lights dimmed. The Hordes of Genghis Khan might not be capable of breaching his TARDIS, but that didn't mean that whatever forces that existed in the Void couldn't effect his ship.

He could sense his ship's distress as they floated in the nothingness. He tried to calm and soothe her as he madly dashed around the console, shoring up the extra shielding he'd installed to protect them from the effects of the Void. Once he was sure they were secure, he began to input the information about the Void ship he'd wrenched from his cousin's insane mind, and began scanning the Void. He knew this was a monumental task, and similar to the old Earth saying of finding a needle in a hay stack. Not to mention, Rose's was not the only Void ship in this place. There were other Void ships lost in the Time War, not to mention a few prison ships floating around here too. The Time Lords had been a bit sloppy with the Void, using it as a dumping ground. He had to find the right Void ship and avoid any unpleasant surprises.

Unfortunately, none of his scanning equipment seemed to be working. He slammed his hands on the console in frustration, and that's when he began to hear it. There were whispers, barely formed words, but they conveyed a malevolent intent. He stood up straight. This was what had destroyed his family, and it was trying to get to him. He closed his eyes and pushed it away. His TARDIS tilted violently, and he gripped the console to keep from falling. He began punching controls, shoring up the shielding, and trying to gain control. His TARDIS was panicking, and the cloister bells began to chime.

"No!" he shouted, and focused on his TARDIS, tuning everything out, including any whispering or cold presences trying to seep into his ship. He thought of Rose, focused on her brilliant smile, and how time wrapped around her, and he felt his ship jerk again. They were spiraling toward something, and he was doing his best to try to regain control. He gasped as he felt a flash of Rose in his mind. It disappeared as quickly as it had appeared, and he growled with frustration. Determination and a stubborn refusal to admit defeat filled him as he focused on her and that whisp of her that had teased him. Slowly, he began to feel her and channeled that feeling through to his TARDIS. It was as though they became one being with one purpose, to find his Uncommon Rose. They were tossed and toppled about, the console sparked and the time rotor moved furiously. It was as though they were being torn apart. The Doctor held on and never waivered. He had promised Rose he would come for her, and nothing would stop him from keeping that promise.

As abruptly as the shaking had started, it stopped. The air in the TARDIS felt lighter and the ship calmed. The Doctor loosened his grip on the console and looked around. The lights were back to the normal. He examined the readings and then turned his attention to the time rotor.

"We're out of the Void," he said and then glared at his ship. "Rose is in there! We have to go back and find her!"

The ship sparked and burned his fingers as he tried to navigate them back into the Howling.

"Don't get stroppy with me! Rose is counting on us no matter how difficult or painful it is. I won't leave her behind!" he shouted, furious with his ship. A picture flashed up on the monitor. It showed a Void ship, hidden amongst some greenery.

He took a step forward and tugged at his hair. "She fell out of the Void," he said in disbelief. He looked back at the time rotor. "How is that possible?" Then, it occurred to him. "A rift. She fell through a rift out of the Void." A smile began to light his face. "Impossible Rose, you've done it again," he said softly and then began hitting controls. "Now then, where have you brought us? What trouble has my Rose found this time?"

He stopped dead still at what he read. "No!" he said in an angry voice. As if readying for battle, he grabbed his sonic and his coat and exited the TARDIS.

Dwdwdwdwdwdwdw

Rose had given into her grief and guilt, and let this new Doctor comfort her. She missed her Doctor so much, even if he was an arrogant git. She smiled as she thought of him. He might be an arrogant git, but he was hers. A clear line was drawn in her mind as she sorted through her feelings. She loved both of them, but in different ways. If she couldn't get back to her Doctor, she could stay with this him, but it wouldn't be the same. She would always live with the guilt and pain of missing the Doctor that had bonded with her, accepted her as a wife, lover, and partner, and had filled that aching void in her mind. This Doctor was older, and he had changed, but she still felt him holding back in a way her Doctor didn't. Rose focused on him and his timeline for a moment. The timeline of a Time Lord was a tricky thing, and not easy to follow with its twists and turns and the way it tied up in knots. It was clear that this Doctor had a part to play in this universe, and the universe needed him in a way the other universe needed her. Her time with him was temporary, no matter if she stayed or left. She felt this Doctor's arms tighten around her reflexively, as if he was responding to her thoughts. She didn't want to hurt him, but she didn't want him to be alone either. Just as she was about to talk to him about what she'd seen, that empty ache in her mind was soothed and filled with a very familiar presence. She stiffened and looked up at the Doctor that held her, but his eyes were focused elsewhere. It wasn't this him, and if it wasn't him then it meant… Her heart started to beat and adrenalin raced through her as she turned around.

Emerging through the bushes, tall and impressive, was the Oncoming Storm himself, and he was not happy. In fact, he looked deadly. Rose was relieved, overjoyed, and worried all at the same time. She'd never seen him like this. He was full of a darkness and fury she hadn't ever experienced with him. She tried to send him comfort through their bond, but was met with an icy wall, behind which some dark, furious beast was snarling. She might not be able to comfort him, but she was able to sense reverberations of something terrible. Something bad had happened to him, and it had wrapped its hateful claws around him and was dragging him into a pit of blood, anger, and revenge.

"Doctor," she gasped and took a step forward, but the Doctor of this universe held her back. She turned to him, but his gaze was focused ahead on her Doctor.

"Let her go!" her Doctor demanded, his voice filled with barely controlled rage. His sonic was aimed at the Doctor that now held her.

This was very, very bad. Rose looked up at the Doctor that held her. His face was passive, but his gaze told another story. There was no doubt in her mind that she was between two furious Time Lords, both of whom now aimed their sonics at one another, in some Time Lord version of a stand off. Rose cursed and wrenched her arm away from him.

"Stop it! Both of you, just stop it! There's no reason for this!" she shouted, but neither of them seemed to hear her. The very air was vibrating with the unseen tension between the two Doctors. The sun was setting, casting the park in dark shadows, reflecting the animosity between the two. angry aliens Dark clouds were beginning to swirl in the sky, enveloping them into further darkness. Thunder rumbled and the wind picked up, flaring her Doctor's dark grey coat about him and hurling leaves through the air as further evidence of the storm brewing. Neither Time Lord seemed to notice the changes around them.

"Rose, get back to my TARDIS," her Doctor finally commanded, his eyes never leaving the other Doctor.

"Oh, I don't think that's a good idea," the bow tied wearing Doctor replied. "In fact, that would be a very bad plan. Maybe even three buses, a long walk, and eight quid in a taxi from good."

"Doctor," Rose said in an annoyed tone, her hand on her hip, facing the frock coated Doctor. "I'm askin' you again to stop this now."

"Rose!" her Doctor shouted. "Get away from this… this floppy haired, gangly, pathetic version of a Time Lord!" he snarled.

The bow tie wearing Doctor stood up straight and thrust his prominent jaw out. "Oh, I'm not the one that's pathetic here, you moaning, melodramatic pretty boy. I didn't have to imprison Rose to win her affections, and I'm certainly not going to allow some malicious, shadowy image of who I am to manipulate her."

Rose stared at the bow tie wearing Doctor. She could not believe he just said that. Especially after how she'd poured her heart out to him and he'd comforted her, murmuring words as if he understood. He wasn't like this. At least, he hadn't been when she'd traveled with him. As she looked at him now, she could see it. Something was there, just beneath the surface, pain, loss, a touch of fear, and a streak of possessiveness. He'd been alone too long. Rose felt a twinge of sympathy. He was rubbish on his own.

It wasn't long before her Doctor replied in his typical gruff way. "No, you just abandoned her in parallel world, gave up, and walked away. No, scratch that. You ran away. Not me. I told her I'd come for her and I have. Now piss off and let her go!"

Rose almost groaned. This was so not going well. "Now see here," she started to say before the bow tie wearing Doctor cut in, his face an icy mask.

"I would have risked everything, jeopardized millions of lives to rip apart the universe for her, but she wouldn't have wanted that. And what sort of Time Lord are you, willing to risk so many lives? How many are in peril because of you ripping your way into MY universe!"

"Oh God," Rose said and pinched the bridge of her nose. This was going to be an all out Time Lord pissing contest. She had to set them both straight and soon before they started blowing things up. Of course just as she thought that lightening cracked and the park bench exploded sending shards of wood and metal flying into the air.

Her Doctor wasted no time responding. "What kind of Time Lord am I?" he snipped. "The kind that keeps my promises. I will always come for Rose, be there for her as she was for me. I will always find a way, without sacrificing the universe. And don't think for one micro second that I'm gonna let you take her from me! You might walk away from her, acting the martyr, enjoying some self inflicted emotional torment, but I'm not gonna do that. She isn't your Rose and this isn't her home anymore and she knows that."

Rose looked at the intensity in her Doctor's eyes and for just a moment, she saw something more than anger. Beneath the seething, possessive Time Lord was him. Her Doctor was afraid of losing her to this world, and that was her fault. So mired in her personal loss and grief, she'd planted seeds of doubt in his mind. He loved her and wanted her to come home. As much as she was in pain, having been separated from him, he was in pain as well. Rose touched the pendant around her neck. It was them. Two halves of a whole that might be cracked, but would never be truly broken. At that moment, Rose knew without a doubt, he was her home. This world she now stood in, this universe, was her past. She had to let it go. A single tear trailed down her face as she finally came to terms with who she was at that moment.

"Rose," her bow tie wearing Doctor said with an emotional inflection in his voice. "That's not true. You can stay here with me. You don't have to go back with Dark and Moody over there," he said waving the hand that held the sonic in the air erratically.

She walked over and gripped the wrist of the hand holding his sonic. He looked down at her and gazed deep into her eyes. "You don't have to go," he murmured softly.

She smiled sadly at him. "He's right. This isn't my world anymore, and you…you've moved on. I can see it in your eyes. You may not think so now, but you have." He seemed to relax under her touch, almost as if he knew she was right, but didn't want to admit it.

She looked at him and her brow furrowed, as if she was seeing something inside of him. "You're alone, but you're not, not really. There's someone, a mystery of sorts." She smiled. "You love a good mystery, and if I hadn't arrived here like this, you'd be with her right now." Rose looked further into his time line and smiled. "She's good for you, and it's her time with you now. Every companion you take changes you, helps you to be better, just like how you make them better." Her smile faded and she cupped his cheek. "You've been through so much, lost people, but there's more for you to do and learn. I'm your past now," she said tearfully. "You and me were brilliant, and you'll meet more brilliant people. I know you will. You don't need me now. He does. He's… he's you and I…"

"Exactly," the Doctor answered with a sneer, and he pulled away from her, glaring at the other Doctor, his own self loathing reinvigorating his anger. "He's me, and what am I? A murderer of my own kind, the Doctor, a warrior, liar and deceiver. No one's better at manipulating people than I am!" he spit out.

Rose looked at him sympathetically and tried to deny what he was saying but he wouldn't have it.

"Even you, Rose. Especially you!" He turned and glared at the other Doctor. "Oh, he's me all right. He found you, saw how special you were, and was willing to do anything, say anything so he could keep you." He turned back to her. "I did the same."

"Doctor…" she started to say, but he put a finger against her lips.

"You are too compassionate for your own good. It's your greatest fault and your greatest strength."

By this time, the other Doctor stormed over and yanked Rose away. He was immediately in the bow tie wearing Doctor's face. "Back off!"

The two Doctors were almost nose to nose, glaring at each other. Lightning flashed in the sky and the very ground seemed to vibrate. Rose had no doubt that they were the cause. She was sure there was a lot of telepathic snarking going back and forth as well. In fact, she was developing a headache from what she was assuming was a telepathic tug of war between the two of them with her in the middle. She had to end it and quickly.

"That is enough!" she shouted and sent the equivalent to a telepathic slap at both of them. They turned to her stunned and rubbing their temples.

"Now see here, I love both of you."

Her Doctor looked incredibly hurt and then furious. "You promised!" he shouted, looking as if he was ready to rip the universe apart in his anger.

"Yes, she did!" the other Doctor responded. "She promised me forever, and well, things may have gotten a bit wonky or complicated and perhaps even twisted in a temporal loop to loop kind of way. But, the point is, and I did have a point!" he said exuberantly. "Forever and, well, she could do that now couldn't she, but the question is, with who?" He finished softly, looking at her.

With waves of emotion in her eyes and sparkling with just the faintest gold, she looked back at him while her Doctor stood stiffly beside them. She reached over and grasped her Doctor's hand, but her gaze never left the bow tie wearing Doctor.

In that moment, he seemed to acknowledge a choice had been made and in reality, he knew this would happen. "Rose Tyler," he said softly. "Defender of the multiverse and tamer of the Oncoming Storm, you've become so much more," he announced with a touch of sadness in his voice.

"I meant it. I love both of you, but…" she paused and looked at her Doctor who stared at her with such an intense passion it could have lit the entire park on fire. "I'm in love with this Doctor, and I gave him part of myself and he gave me part of himself."

She looked back at the other Doctor. "It doesn't mean I don't love you too, just not in the same way. He needs me, and you…well, you have so much ahead of you, so many people who care. You'll never be alone unless you choose to be."

He stared at her for one more moment, and then perked up and adjusted his bow tie. "Quite right. I mean, look at me. Brilliant, impressive, and a snappy dresser and cool. Don't you think?"

Through teary eyes, she managed to smile brightly at him. "Very cool!"

"That's enough!" her Doctor snapped, glaring at Rose as he began tugging her away. "You've caused enough trouble for one day."

Rose turned on him, suddenly fuming. "Oi! I'm not the one whose psychotic evil family came back and tossed me in the Void!" she said, stopping him.

This Doctor was in no mood to listen to her. "Don't you dare! You don't know what I had to do to solve that and what I did to get here. I risked myself and my TARDIS to save you from the Void and what do I find, but you in the arms of another Time Lord!" he raged at her.

"Oh, it wasn't like that. I mean, it was, but it was friendly hugging, not the kissy kissy kind!" the bow tie wearing Doctor asserted, trying to get them to calm down. Neither paid attention to him.

"And that's my fault how? And why is it always about you? What about me? It wasn't exactly a holiday in the Void. You think I had a good time, that it wasn't bloody terrifying and then landing here, not knowing where here was?" Rose shouted back while her Doctor glared and gripped his sonic so hard it looked like he would break it.

"Rose, I think we should…" the other Doctor tried to say, but Rose was too angry to listen.

"I barely escaped the evil things in the Void and I landed here with nothin! For all I knew, I was in the universe where humans were cannibals or where they worshipped Fluffy the Almighty Bunny of Doom!"

"Fluffy the Almighty Bunny of Doom?" the bow tie wearing Doctor asked. "There's a Bunny of Doom universe?" he asked, his eyes alight. "Do they hop everywhere, or is this more like a carrot feasting festival type thingy?" he asked and hopped up and down.

Both Rose and her Doctor looked at him with furrowed brows before turning back to each other.

"Look, the point is, you were gone and I didn't think I'd ever see you again. Then the Doctor wandered up, and I thought he could help me get back. He was only holding me because…" Rose's eyes filled with tears. "I was afraid I'd never see you again, and we were rowing and I didn't want you to think…"

"Think what?" her Doctor asked, his voice softer now, and demanding as if he couldn't breath until he heard her say it.

"I understand why you wanted me to do all that Time Lord ritual stuff, I really do. I'm sorry if I stunk at 'em, but it wasn't to piss you off or because I don't love you. I do love you, so much, and I do want to be a part of your world. I just don't want to disappear. I want to still be me, too."

"I don't want you to disappear, or change from who you are, who I love. I just wanted to keep you safe, to include you in my life and make sure…" He paused. "So that you would know that Gallifrey is your home too."

They gazed into each other's eyes as if some subtle unspoken communication was occurring. This was a threshold they both had to cross together. Each accepting the other and respecting who they were as individuals, as well as together as a couple. Slowly, they sidled up to each other, embraced and snogged as if to seal their understanding of one another.

The bow tie wearing Doctor was fidgeting. He understood what Rose had said to him, and he was a master at tamping down his own emotions, but this, watching them snog and be domestic, was an entirely different thing. He hated domestics. When he had Amy and Rory along with him, he'd done a lot to avoid getting stuck in the middle, always keeping them on the run and in the thick of an adventure. Of course, this was different. This was Rose and a version of him. He was an outsider, observing two people overcoming an emotional obstacle and connecting in ways he hadn't realized he wanted or that he had run from. Once again, he thought about what he could have had with Rose, and now he'd lost his chance. It was painful, but that seemed to be a theme in his long life. And now, it was time to end this chapterand yet another loss.

"Right-O!" he said clapping his hands and rubbing them together. "This has been fun, well, no it hasn't, but it hasn't been boring!"

Rose pulled away from her Doctor, who scowled at the other Doctor. Rose smiled softly. "Thank you, Doctor, for everything." She stepped over to him, never letting go of her Doctor's hand, and kissed him softly. He gasped at the feeling of her lips on his, and looked at her startled when she pulled away. She laid a hand on his cheek and gazed deeply into his eyes. He felt as if she could look straight through him into his soul and he took a step back away from her.

"Don't be alone," she said in all seriousness. "Something's coming and you'll need help. You can't run from this, and you won't see it coming. Let her in, Doctor."

"Enough, we need to leave," her Doctor said firmly, but not with as much anger. "The Corsair can't hold the bloody Void open forever."

"The Corsair," the other Doctor said softly, his voice tinged with delight. "Now, there was a Time Lord!"

Rose felt herself being tugged away.

"Good bye," she said, looking at him with tears pooling.

The Doctor swallowed hard, trying not to show his emotions. "Good bye, Rose Tyler, or perhaps I should say, until next time. That is rather us."

She laughed as tears cascaded down her face. Just before she disappeared into the bushes with her Doctor, she paused. "Find her Doctor. Don't be alone."

The Doctor exhaled slowly as he watched Rose disappear and he heard the sound of a TARDIS dematerializing. He was used to leaving people behind, or watching them leave, but this time it wasn't so hard. Perhaps, it was because they both had closure. One last day to spend with each other, to know that each of them would be happy, and he was sure she would be. She was with him, after all. Besides, he meant it when he said until next time. Perhaps one day he would see her again.

As he walked to his TARDIS, it hit him. They'd left the void ship. After cursing profusely and glaring up at the sky where he felt a universal tear closing up, he began walked over to the Void ship and began pacing around it, muttering about inconsiderate Time Lords leaving their universal rubbish around for him to clean up and about foolish humans, trying to blow themselves up with it. He spread his arms out and paced around it once more, as if measuring it. With a mischievous glint in his eyes, he hopped in the air once, and raced giddily to his TARDIS. If anyone in the park had been there, they would have watched, mystified, as a blue public police call box somehow materialized around the giant gold sphere and then disappeared in whirlwind of dust and leaves, leaving no trace behind of the multiversal incursion that had happened, or of the conversion of time lines that would mark this place for millennia to come.


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> FINAL CHAPT!!! Big thanks as always to Callistawolf who was just awesome and helped make this better! More hugs to certain awesome ladies who know who they are who put up with my whinging and especially Bittie who was my Eleven sounding board.
> 
> There will be another story in this series eventually. Don't be deceived into thinking that how this story ends is what the next will be about. Nope. Next story will not take place directly after this one and the thing mentioned at the end of this story will not be the focus. The next plot surrounds the Corsair and the very great debt Rose and Dark!Ten owe him/her.
> 
> Thanks for reading and all the lovely reviews!

The Doctor was silent as they entered the TARDIS. He was still reeling from finding Rose with his parallel self as well as their row over the issues that had been troubling them before things went to hell. Tension was thick between them as Rose followed him inside. He stood for a moment staring at the control console as he felt anger and annoyance flaring inside of him.

"Doctor," Rose said softly, feeling his tumultuous emotions through their telepathic link.

"I almost lost you," he stated with a hard tone. He looked up at her, his eyes dark and emotional. "If I hadn't come, you would have stayed with him."

"That's not true," Rose denied. "I mean, I don't deny that I love him. He's the Doctor that swept me away and helped make me who I am now and he is you, after all."

He glared at the console, his shoulders tense, anger and hurt still stewing just below the surface.

Rose took a step forward. "That wasn't my world anymore and it wasn't my home. My home is with you. I wanted to come home to you. He was my best shot to find that away home. Staying with him wasn't even a thought. 'Sides, he wasn't entirely pleased to see me at first and he was a little hurt because I…" She paused and looked off to the side.

The Doctor started the dematerialization sequence and began setting course for the other universe. "Because you chose me over him," he said, his tone still sharp, indicating he was still not happy.

"Yeah," Rose replied quietly.

He paused again, his hands gripping the console as if his life depended on it before pushing off and marching over to her with a fiery demeanor. "I. COULD. HAVE. LOST. YOU!" he shouted emphatically, looming over her and gripping her shoulders.

Rose felt so many emotions radiating from him, anger, fear, passion and love. "You didn't," she said, her voice emotional and breaking.

They stared at each other for a long time before he yanked her against him, and their lips crashed together hungrily. There was nothing soft about this. This was pure want, mixed with a lust that burned deep down. It was missing each other, I'm sorry, I love you, and forever all wrapped up in clashing teeth, and tangling and caressing tongues. It was passionate, raw and needy, with grinding hips and fingers tangled in hair. There was no thought, other than that they were together and never wanted to be apart again.

Rose reveled in the contact and moaned into his mouth as her hips rubbed against his, needing friction. It wasn't long before she roughly shoved his coat and jacket off and ripped his shirt open, buttons flying and plinking against the grating. She paused only to finish tugging off his shirt and tie and anything else in the way of her desire to touch and taste him. He was just as desperate, tearing her clothing off and tossing the torn remnants across the console room carelessly. He was focused on a particular spot on her neck, nipping, sucking, and marking her as his.

She backed him up, both of them bare chested, until he hit the edge of the console. She shoved him harder against it, until he bent backwards at the waist, as her hands tugged desperately at his trousers. She nipped and sucked along his jawline with her pebbled breasts grazing his chest causing heat to shoot through him. As she leaned further against his chest, she could feel the thudding of his two hearts giving her a feeling of power, that she was making him feel this way. He moaned and his hands dived downward, skimming her sides to unfasten her jeans, his hands slipping beneath and grabbing her arse with a not so gentle squeeze. They broke apart and struggled out of their jeans, trousers, trainers and boots. When Rose looked at him, she was predatory. He was hers and she'd missed him. A dark smirk lit his face, as if he was daring her to attack. She slammed him against the console, practically pouncing on him. He was taller and stronger than her, but he liked her aggression, that she wanted to claim him like this and he yielded to her. As she pushed him back against the console, he winced as a switch gouged into his back and he shifted, pulling her with him so that he was hitched up a bit on the console. Rose clawed her nails into his shoulder as he moved. She was going to enjoy this. Her intent was clear. She wanted him right here, right now on this console.

She straddled him, pinning him to the console. Her hands gripped the control panel near the time rotor with her knees pressed against some controls, which she hoped wouldn't explode them. She had wicked plans for him that involved more than dying in an orgasmic apocalypse. His breath quickened and he gasped and growled her name as his hands firmly grasped her hips. He was clearly aroused and his eyes bore into hers as she enjoyed being in control. Rose shifted and reached down with one hand to stroke his hard length and aligned them so he hit her just so. She continued to caress him as she arched her back in pleasure, biting her lip and almost purring at how good it felt to have him rub against her clit.

She shifted and rocked so he slid through her slick folds, closer to where she really wanted him. He squeezed her hips hard enough to bruise and cursed in several alien languages, accusing her of being a tease, but not making any motions to take control. Rose had a wolfish smile on her lips and bent forward to snog him deeply, skimming her hand across his chest until she gripped his hair as her tongue thrust roughly into his mouth. He kissed her back just as aggressively, and shuddered as he felt her moving against him, breasts just grazing him and the cool metal of her pendant dropped against his chest. The metal soon warmed, as an affirmation of the heat between them building, of the anger and uncertainty melting away into the passion and love that bound them.

Rose pulled back from the kiss, tugging on his bottom lip before releasing it with just a bit more of nip than necessary, before she shifted and positioned him at her entrance.

"Tell me…" she started say and shuddered as she felt him trying to thrust upward into her, his lean body was taught, making her want to just shag him hard, but that wasn't enough. She needed more. "Tell me you believe in me, that you want me, who I am now, and that you trust me."

He was on fire with desire for her, and not just to thrust into her and surround himself with her wet heat. He wanted all of her, to wrap his mind into and around hers and feel their timelines flare and vibrate with life and the life they would have together. "I want you," he growled out and gripped her hips tighter. "Want you with me forever. No one I trust more than you! I want my Impossible Rose. Human or not, you are mine!"

Rose shivered at his possessiveness. It wasn't about him controlling her. This was about want, need, and love, emotions so fierce he would conquer the Void itself just for her, just as she had once upon a time, oh so long ago. It may not have been this exact him, but perhaps this was the right him this Rose was meant for. "Doctor," she moaned emotionally and raked her nails down his chest until she reached his erection. She grasped him firmly, her fingers teasing him as she hovered over him, just grazing his tip with her throbbing entrance.

With a growl of frustration, wanting badly to merge with her, he sent his mind crashing into hers, sharing his loss and fear and determination to get her back. It was overwhelming, the intensity of his love for her. Tears pooled in her eyes and she showed him her utter devastation at the thought of losing him or not being enough for him. In that moment, they bridged a gap between them. Promises were made and doubts and fears were conquered as she slid him inside of her.

She called out as she felt him hard and thick within her, and began rocking her hips, gripping the console hard as she moved. He grunted, his fingers biting into her side, holding her against him as his body shifted on the console, now not caring what control was poking him in the side as he arched up to meet her. She rode him hard, her skin slick with sweat and slapping against his, feeling him hit just the right spot inside of her as she rocked back and forth on him. She was so close and she heard him let loose several curses and shifted up to get better traction. The TARDIS was careening through the Void, but neither of them could care. They were so focused on each other and the heat between them, the thrusting, grunting, and release that was oh, so close. Rose bit her lip and moved faster, trying to pull him into her deeper, and soon her walls began to flutter. She felt the Doctor shout "Mine" into her mind just has she came hard, screaming his name and gripping the console so hard, she thought it might crack. As she shuddered on top of him, she swore time itself shot through them. He soon followed her, bucking into her wetness and lifting off the console in one mighty thrust upward, grunting out a "yes!"

As they both came down from their orgasms, the TARDIS violently shifted, throwing them off the console and onto the grating in a tangle of limbs, this time with the Doctor on top.

"Ouch," Rose commented and looked up into the very satisfied and smirking face of her Doctor.

He leaned down and laid a gentle kiss on her forehead and then rested his forehead against hers, basking in the joy of having her back with him and in his mind. In the middle of the cuddles that followed, they heard a voice call out.

"Ya know, I've seen console sex before, but never quite like that! Not that I haven't tried a few variations myself in my younger days, but you two! Shagging your way across the Void!"

"Corsair!" the Doctor shouted and looked over to where a holographic image of the Corsair appeared to be leaning against a coral strut, drinking from a golden goblet and watching them.

"Hey, I had to make sure you were alright. Your TARDIS was coming through a bit wonky. It's not my fault you two were so busy, gettin' reacquainted" the Corsair said with a lascivious look, "that you couldn't pay attention to navigation or the fact that I've been here, worried 'bout was what goin' on in there."

The Doctor scowled and, after turning a delightful shade of pink, Rose grinned and looked over the Doctor's shoulder at the Corsair.

"Hi Corsair, um how are things?" she asked with a slight giggle.

The Corsair's blue eyes sparkled in amusement. "Oh, you know, save the universe, help this old cranky scalawag rescue his damsel, piss off some stuffy Time Lords. Same old, same old."

Rose grinned. "Well, thanks for keeping an eye on this lump, and…whatever else you did for him. I'm sure there's a lot more to this story. It's just been a little…"

The Corsair's smile fell a little. "Yeah, it has." Then he smiled brilliantly at her. "Now it's done, so it's time to celebrate! So get your arses up and clothed, and let's get this thing sealed up and go celebrate!" He then paused. "Course if you prefer naked, it's all good with me!" He then winked at her.

"Corsair!" the Doctor chastised. "Maybe you should go focus on the rift, and I'll be with you in a moment."

"Oh, I don't mind waiting. It's not like the view isn't…" He paused and cocked his head to check out the Doctor's arse. "Ya know, hard on the eyes."

The Doctor looked over at him, trying to cover Rose's nakedness with his own and shot the Corsair a dark look. "Out! Or do I have to have to disengage the holographic comm function?"

The Corsair sipped his drink and looked at them mischievously. "Now, don't get all stroppy! Not my fault you can't keep your hands off of her. Look, we have to sort this bloody thing before Romana sends over the pompous patrol. So stop the snoggin' and get your arse in gear." He turned to Rose and with a more flirtatious tone said, "Keep an eye on him for me, Flower. He's rubbish without supervision. See ya at the Black Balhoon after we have this sorted." With a wink, his image vanished.

The Doctor muttered a few curses under his breath as he helped Rose up, and went in search of his trousers. Rose did the same, but stole his dress shirt since he'd destroyed her own top. She watched him make his way around the console, tug at his hair, curse some more, and keep going. She took a minute, just to appreciate being home and sending thoughts of thanks to the TARDIS. She ran her hand along a coral strut before the Doctor barked an order at her to help him.

As she worked with him, she shot him a few looks as she began wondering about his family. He'd not really shared with her what happened to them. "Doctor, what happened to…"

"Not now, Rose," he answered in a clipped tone.

Rose wasn't going to put up with that. His family had attacked them and Earth, not to mention throwing her into the Void. She couldn't just stand by and not be informed, or allow him to keep her in the dark as he had been on Earth; and demanding she just follow him without question. She wasn't going to lose him again or have any other misunderstandings with him. "Doctor, I have to know."

"I said, not now!" he shouted angrily. "I have to get this rift closed before anything else comes through!"

She could feel the tension radiating off him and knew she couldn't push him now. Sometimes with this Doctor, it was better to let him wait and stew things over. Rose wasn't happy, but let it go for now. She worked in silence with him until it was done and he let out a sigh. He input a course and soon they were on their way to meet up with the Corsair at the Black Balhoon.

Rose crossed her arms and looked at him expectantly. He stared back and shifted. "I don't want to talk about it."

"Tough," Rose responded and walked over to him. Her hand found his and squeezed. She looked into his eyes and could see he wasn't just being a stubborn git this time. He was suffering. That's when she knew that whatever had happened was bad. She pulled him down the corridor into their room and continued on until they reached the shower. They each undressed and stepped under multiple jets of water pounding down on them.

There, in the cobalt blue titled shower, he started to shake with anguish and fell to his knees. Rose knelt down and pulled him into her arms and held him as he confessed what had happened on Earth after she was thrown into the Void. Rose shut her eyes tight and continued to hold him. It was as though he'd lost them all over again, only this time, he'd had to watch. These people who had once been his family had done unspeakable things, and he had been helpless to stop them.

Rose's own feelings were mixed. She was hurting for him having to suffer through what his family had become and for watching his wife die, but part of her was relieved that the Corsair had dealt with them. She wasn't foolish and she knew what the Corsair must have had to do. He was more than a good friend. Rose felt a debt of gratitude to the Corsair, and one day she would repay it. He had saved her Doctor from having to do the unthinkable to his own family. She would never have wanted him burdened with that. She rubbed his back and held him as the warm water washed away his grief and maybe even some of her own concerns about living in the shadow of his family.

When he pulled back, he gazed at her as if she was the most precious thing in the universe. "Forgive me?" he finally asked.

"There's nothing to forgive," Rose answered.

"Yes, there is," he said firmly. "I made you feel like less than my amazing, Impossible Rose. I should have seen that. Rose, I just wanted to keep you safe, for my people to see you as one of them and for you to feel a part of Gallifrey."

Rose felt her emotions bubble up. "I'll never be Gallifreyan enough for you," she finally confessed tearfully.

He cupped her face and kissed her gently, pulling back to gaze into her eyes. "I don't need, or want, a Gallifreyan lady. I need you, my Impossible Rose, just as you are."

What followed was tender love making, perhaps the most tender they had ever been with each other. They lay on the gently heated tile floor as their limbs tangled and they took their time, kissing each other deeply, savoring the taste of each other, of every swipe of their tongues and each caress of supple lips. They traced droplets of water across each other's bodies with their tongues. Their hands glided over each other, as if rediscovering each subtle reaction and everything that made the other gasp. The Doctor was determined show Rose how much he loved her, for just being her. He licked his way down her body and nestled between her thighs, his tongue gliding and swirling along her folds, nipping at that sweet bundle of nerves that had her calling out his name as she arched off the floor. His fingers plunged inside of her and he swirled them, eliciting delightful mewls and gasps while his tongue flicked at her in a sensuous rhythm. Just as he felt her inner walls begin to flutter, he paused and angled himself at her entrance, hooking her legs around him as he looked into her heavily lidded eyes.

"My Doctor," she said in a passion hoarse voice.

He inhaled deeply as drops of water fell from his hair and trailed down his body, his eyes closed as he focused on her. When he opened his eyes, they sparked golden, as did hers. Time looped around them and through them, it was hot and cold all at the same time as it pulled and pushed them together. He slid home into her, and her legs tightened around him. He slid in and out of her in slow, methodical movements, enjoying the feel of her and how she filled his mind as he filled her body. Heat built between them as he plunged into her, and her hips met each thrust.

Rose sent encouragement into his mind for him to increase the pace. She wanted and needed more. His talented fingers danced down between them and circled her clit, causing her to rake her nails down his back and dig her heels into him. "Doctor! Please!" she panted. He pinched her clit and drove into her, just as he sent his lust and passion along their bond, causing both of them to convulse with pleasure. He collapsed on top of her and rolled them onto their sides.

Rose looked over at him and smiled languidly. He pulled her into his arms and held her tightly to his chest. No words were spoken and they didn't need to be. This was them and they understood now. They loved each other deeply, passionately, and sometimes with great shouting rows or acts of sacrifice and bravery. They would fiercely protect one another and be each other's soft place to fall. The universe would learn it was bad idea to threaten them and that any whoever tried to separate them would soon meet an unpleasant end.

They ended up meeting the Corsair on Cristest Four. He pretended to be annoyed, noting how unbecoming it was for a Time Lord to be so tardy, and especially to a celebration of lovers reunited and a universe saved.

Rose smiled and gave the Corsair her best tongue teasing smile. "Sorry, Corsair, you know how it goes. Things got in the way."

The Corsair laughed. "Things? More like a certain Time Lord's…."

"That's enough," the Doctor interrupted and he ordered them a round of drinks which arrived quite quickly.

"To the Corsair, friendship, and love," Rose toasted, then she leaned over and kissed her Doctor.

"Here, here!" the Corsair answered and sipped his drink. "May the two of you continue to watch each other's arses and try not to blow up the universe!" he toasted.

The Doctor rolled his eyes and sipped. "May we all avoid being thrown in the gaol, cheeky tattoo artists, and stuffy Gallifreyan Council members!"

Rose looked over at him, focusing on his arm with the pink heart she'd had tattooed on him the last time they'd been out carousing with the Corsair, and burst into giggles before sipping her drink. The Doctor arched a brow and then winked.

"Oh, come on! Escaping from the dungeon or lock up is half the fun!" The Corsair then ordered another round and turned to the Doctor. "So, you gonna tell me what favor you owe Romana for lettin' us play fast and loose with that rift?"

Rose turned to the Doctor concerned and reached for his hand. "Doctor?" she said softly.

The Doctor looked at his drink. "It's nothing."

The Corsair narrowed his eyes. "No favor owed to the President of Gallifrey is nothing. Spill."

"Doctor, please tell me," Rose asked, now very nervous. She didn't trust the Time Lord Council, even if Romana had helped them once before. That meant nothing.

The Doctor fidgeted and looked around not wanting to answer. After Rose and the Corsair continued to stare at him expectantly, he gave in. He looked at the table for a moment before speaking. "Well, a lot of Time Lords died and the Council sort of holds me responsible." He looked up at the Corsair. "Which is completely unjust! Like I had any say in what happened. It was their fault for not…"

"Doctor!" Rose cut in. "Just tell us! What did you agree to?"

The Doctor tugged at his ear and looked up at the ceiling. "Well, I maybe agreed to… sortarepopulatemyhouse," he said quickly, lumping the words together.

The Corsair spit out his drink. "You what?" he shouted.

Rose was looking at the Doctor, confused, before it sank in. "Wait a minute! Did you just say you agreed to repopulate your house as in… you know, start a family?" she asked, her voice pitched high at the end.

The Doctor turned to her. "It's not as bad as you think! I mean, granted a house on Gallifrey is usually about fifty or more members…"

"Not as bad as I think! Fifty or more!" Rose screeched at him. "You're suggesting that we pop out a bunch of kids!"

"What? No, no, no! Nothing so primitive as you're suggesting! Really, Rose, that's disgusting! This is Gallifrey, not some undeveloped, back water planet!" he retorted, looking offended.

The Corsair grinned. "Naw, he's right Rose. He's not gonna knock you up repeatedly or induce multiple births although, it could be fun working all that out," the Corsair teased.

"Corsair!" the Doctor sighed as he pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Well, what do you mean then, Doctor?" she demanded, perturbed.

"Oh, you know, we just loom a few offspring. Easy peasy, lemon squeezey," he said, snapping his fingers.

Rose's mouth gaped. She sort of knew the concept of a loom, but was still wrapping her brain around this idea of what that meant for her.

The Doctor rolled his eyes at her expression. "We take genetic samples and manipulate them to loom offspring and then BAM!" he said slapping his hand on the table. "Instant progeny! And we can have them loomed to whatever age we want. Spend a bit of time with them, get them, you know, started and interesting, and then send them off to the stodgy academy to become good little Time Lords and Ladies."

"Have you lost it?!" Rose finally shouted at him.

"What?" he retorted. "It's no big deal! Honestly, Rose, you're blowing this out of proportion."

The Corsair whistled and took a sip of his drink. "Good luck to ya, Doctor, I think you're gonna need it. Offspring... of all the things you could get hit with!"

"You are so gonna get it," Rose promised, glaring at him. "And don't think you're pushing this all off on me while you go gallivanting off across the universe, having fun."

"Well, I…I mean, of course not and we can just…you know, make it work," he said softly, grabbing a drink off a server's tray as if his life depended on it.

"And you wanna just send off our whatevers to some stuffy Time Lord academy? To become like that lot?" she asked with a hint of anger in her voice.

The Corsair grinned and watched the oncoming domestic brawl brew between them. Life was never dull around the Doctor and Rose, and the Corsair was enjoying it. Of course, before things could escalate between the couple, a rather unhappy pirate burst into the bar and accused the Doctor of blowing up his brother's ship. After a shouting match and the Oncoming Storm being unleashed over accusations of dealing in stolen Time Lord technology, insults being hurled and weapons drawn, the bar erupted into a brawl of epic proportions. And thus, the matter of looming, offspring and rebuilding the Doctor's house was put off for another day whilst the trio fought drunken bar patrons, pirates, consumed a few bottles of alien whiskey, and ended up dragged off to jail where they happily passed out together. All in all, it was a happy end to an emotional roller coaster of an adventure.


End file.
